Alstom Officially Awarded $2.3 Billion Contract for M9A Cars

After years of waiting, the contract for the M9A cars has finally been awarded. The annoucement came on Monday, June 23rd at the MTA's Board Meeting, where they voted on it. The base order consisted of 316 railcars, 160 for the LIRR, and 156 for Metro-North, and the contract also includes options for up to a impressive additional 242 cars, (180 for LIRR and 62 for MNR) to support future ridership growth. 

The M9As will finally replace the M3 fleet, which if I remember correctly, were supposed to be fully replaced by the M9s. On the Long Island Railroad, they'll also provide additional capacity, and as the M3s can't go into Grand Central, giving the railroad even more flexibility (maybe this will make them be more willing to at least divert service to Grand Central since they're not willing to do it to the more then capable Hunterspoint Avenue).

Concept rendering of the M9A

To me, this concept almost reminds me of something that would be made by AI, but nonetheless, it's a very futuristic-looking concept. The blue front is definitely something that'll take some time to get used to, but these are pretty sleek looking cars.

Is it just me or are the M9As the train-version of Kathy Hochul?

And while little is known still about the M9A's actual design apart from those concept renderings, we can expect these features: glass windows less prone to sun damage, push button doors on the bathrooms, and USB ports in every row. 

The Long Island Rail Road expects to have M9As ready for testing by 2029, with them scheduled to enter actual revenue service on both railroads in 2030, and be completed by 2032 (hopefully Alstom won't screw up like my beloved Kawasaki did!) It's crazy to me that the next generation of railcars will be out the year I graduate highschool! 

The LIRR sent concept interior photos just an hour or so after I finished this post, so I better add them in. The design, which I can probably guess the prompt in Veo 3, is very similar to the M7. This was the first thing I noticed when I saw these images. While I expected some similarity, considering this is being made by the same company who made the M7s (Bombardier and Alstom merged), it was a bit startling just how similar these cars look. While I expect this will change from an AI prompt concept to an actual change, the inside is basically just an M7 with the display boards changed to look more modern in addition to a couple of other changes. 

In all, the future for LIRR rolling stock is quite positive- we weren't even supposed to get a second  as if the Chargers don't get delayed they should be rolling in on the rails in 2027, followed by these in 2030. Not to mention the While it's sad to see the M3s so close to retirement, customers hate them and it probably has some minor part to do with the LIRR's lower satisfaction rates considering how torn up they are, and at this point they were supposed to be long gone. 

Now the question to be asked is, what will the propulsion sound like?