(The following article by Tina Kelley was posted on the New York Times website on October 11.)
NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Transit plans to begin rolling out double-decker trains — without the dreaded middle seat of its current cars — in December, easing the commute for some of its 72,000 customers who travel to New York City on a typical weekday, the agency announced Wednesday.
In the next three years, the transit agency said, 234 new cars will supplement the 908 single-level cars currently operating.
Dan Stessel, a spokesman for New Jersey Transit, said the new cars would be sent to the system’s busiest rail lines beginning Dec. 11. He said having the double-decker trains on those lines — the Northeast Corridor, the North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct service — would reduce crowding on all of the system’s 11 commuter rail lines.
The cars, which cost on average $1.9 million, will have 15 percent to 20 percent more capacity even though they have none of the unpopular three-seat rows of current cars.
Commuters have long shunned the middle seat, often preferring to stand rather than ask other riders to move their bags and make room. “Every seat will be an aisle or a window seat, which means every seat on the train will be used,” Mr. Stessel said.
The new seats will also offer an inch more knee room and are 2.2 inches wider than in the cars currently used.
The agency said that a group of 14 commuters gave feedback on the new design to the manufacturer, Bombardier Transportation, after going to Montreal in 2003 to inspect a model of the car. The seats were then redesigned based on recommendations about comfort and lumbar support, the agency said.
“These cars are special because our customers and our employees had early input into the design,” George D. Warrington, the executive director of New Jersey Transit, said in a statement. “While adding capacity, we are able to give customers a new level of comfort with two-by-two seating, as well as more legroom, better lighting and updated restroom amenities.”
After the first nine cars join the fleet in December, an additional seven a month are to be put into service from February to July. Ten a month will be added after that until all 234 new cars are in service.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey provided $250 million for the first 100 cars, and federal funds will pay for the rest, Mr. Stessel said.
“The immediate benefit is to increase seating capacity on our existing trains with the limited infrastructure we currently have to New York,” he said, noting that 23 to 24 trains an hour, including Amtrak trains, go into the city using just one track under the Hudson River.
The possibility of adding a tunnel is under study, but even if it is ultimately approved, it is not expected to be completed until 2016.
When all the new cars are in use, about half the cars on any train will have bathrooms, while now a minimum of one car per train has a bathroom, Mr. Stessel said.
The bathrooms will be longer and wider, with improved lighting, larger mirrors and “an airy and modern feel,” he said. The bathrooms will also be equipped with passenger assistance buttons, which are not available in the cars currently in use.