'Dignified' afterlife of MTA subway vehicles

The Infrastructurist today features some reporting on the disposal of retired MTA subway vehicles as artificial reefs for marine habitat, including a slide show in The New York Times and photographs by Stephen Mallon courtesy of Co.Design of the expansion of Red Bird reef off coast of Delaware.

At least fish find the R-44 vehicles quite hospitable (implicitly more so than the older namesake Redbirds), for all their sub-par reliability while in service with the MTA (All 278 subway vehicles have been withdrawn from use as of last September.).

“We call these the DeLoreans of the deep....The one problem I see with them,” Mr. Tinsman said, “is that just like the DeLoreans, there are only a limited number.”

Jeff Tinsman, Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

Contrast this end-of-life outcome with that of the Boeing Vertol LRVs retired from MBTA Green Line.