NJ Transit gets first Multilevel car

New Jersey Transit has taken delivery of its first Multilevel III rail car, the opening shipment in a 374-car fleet replacement that starts with a self-propelled power car. (alstom.com) The car was unveiled April 13, 2026, at the Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny with Governor Mikie Sherrill, Representative Rob Menendez, Representative Nellie Pou, and New Jersey Transit President and Chief Executive Officer Kris Kolluri. New Jersey Transit said the car will spend several months in final testing and commissioning before passenger service. (njtransit.com) This first vehicle is a power car, which means it carries its own electric propulsion instead of being pulled by a separate locomotive. Alstom said the full order includes 112 power cars, 100 cab cars, and 162 trailer cars that can be mixed into trainsets. (alstom.com) (trains.com) New Jersey Transit said the new cars are meant to replace Arrow III electric multiple units and Comet II and Comet IV single-level coaches, some of the agency’s oldest rail equipment. The agency said up to 40 additional new cars are expected to enter passenger service later in 2026. (njtransit.com) The replacement program has grown in stages since the original order. New Jersey Transit said in September 2025 that it had exercised an option for 200 additional multilevel cars, bringing the total on order to 374 and setting a target of a fully modernized rail fleet by 2031. (njtransit.com) The cars are double-deck vehicles built in Plattsburgh, New York, and Alstom said they are designed for speeds up to 110 miles per hour. The company also said the power cars have more than 100 seats and the new fleet adds digital stop signs, audio announcements, and USB charging ports in every row. (alstom.com 1) (alstom.com 2) New Jersey Transit has used multilevel coaches before, but the Multilevel III adds a different operating model on electric territory. Railway Age reported in 2024 that the agency and Alstom developed the cars as “hybrid” electric multiple units so sets can run without locomotives while keeping the multilevel layout already familiar to riders. (railwayage.com) That matters for a railroad that has been trying to retire older single-level fleets while adding capacity on crowded commuter lines into Newark and New York. New Jersey Transit describes itself as the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system, with 12 commuter rail lines and more than 925,000 weekday trips across rail, bus, light rail, and paratransit. (njtransit.com) For riders, the immediate change is not on the timetable yet but in the pipeline: months of testing now, then a first batch of new cars later this year, followed by a larger fleet swap through the end of the decade. (njtransit.com)