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#2978

R15 (New York City Subway car)

🇺🇸 United States ·built by American Car and Foundry Company· from 1950· class of New York City Subway car

R15 (New York City Subway car), photo 1 of 4
1/4 User:BlastOButter42· CC BY-SA 3.0

what is it?

The R15 was a New York City Subway car model built by the American Car and Foundry Company in 1950 for the IRT A Division. A total of 100 cars were built, arranged as single units. Two versions were manufactured: Westinghouse (WH)-powered cars and General Electric (GE)-powered cars.

who runs it

base stats

  • speed 88 km/htop speed
  • power 75 kWpower output
  • weight 33.9 tin working order
  • seats 44passengers
  • built 100made in total

Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.

fun facts

  • First built 76 years ago, in 1950.
  • Weighs about as much as 6 African elephants (~6 t each).
  • 15.5 m long: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
  • Served for 34 years (1950–1984).

metro: Urban rapid transit: frequent, high-capacity trains, often underground.

spec sheet

built
1950
in service from
1950
retired
1984
status
retired
number built
100
kind
metro
traction
electric
origin
🇺🇸 United States
builders
American Car and Foundry Company
operators
New York City Board of Transportation, New York City Transit Authority, New York City Subway
top speed
88 km/h
power
75 kW
gauge
1,435 mm standard gauge
formation
Single units
length
15.5 m
weight
33.9 t
capacity
44 passengers

From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.

Sources: Wikidata Q7274412, Wikipedia: R15 (New York City Subway car) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.

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