Having seen some of the best systems the world has to offer and the rate at which they're being improved and modernized while New York's network stagnates I wouldn't be surprised if NYC has indeed slipped from the top ten.
No disrespect intended Daxomni, but what are you smoking? :unsure:
The average age of a NYC subway car is 17.40 years old vs 19.0 for the entire US. From 1999 to date 3,534 new subway cars have been purchased and more are still on order, with a few more new orders pending. The NYC subway only owns 4,538 subway cars, which means 2/3rds of the fleet is less than 12 years old. We're currently building an extension to the #7 line, as well as the first segment of the long delayed 2nd Avenue Subway. We're building the new downtown transit connection that will link almost every subway and the Path trains at the new World Trade Center all together; one will be able to transfer between all lines without going outside and almost walk from the Hudson River to the East River underground. We just built the new South Ferry station on the #1 line and closed the old one, along with a few hundred feet of new track on a new alignment to the new station. We've recently opened up 3 new passenger connections between lines that didn't exist 5 years ago. And many subway stations have been rebuilt with many more slated for major overhauls.
In fact, I just took a ride on the A line from Far Rockaway today with Misty, visiting from St. Louis. All the stations along the line from and including Far Rockaway to 67th are currently being rebuilt. The train even skips every other stop in one direction so that they can close the platform entirely. The trains running to Far Rock skip the stations that the inbounds miss and skip the stations that the inbounds stop at.
The average age of the bus fleet in NYC is 7.69 vs 7.3 at the national level. We just started a new BRT line in Manhattan, where one pays before boarding the bus.
The LIRR is busy building the East Side Access project that will not only bring trains into Grand Central on the east side of Manhattan, but allow a huge increase in the number of people moved into Manhattan by the LIRR. The project will also fix a big problem at Harold Interlocking (next to Sunnyside yard) that requires Amtrak trains to cross in front of LIRR trains when going to/from the Hell Gate line to Boston. This conflict will be eliminated when things are finished. They just computerized the major interlocking plant in Jamaica, rebuilt the main waiting room at NYP, installed concrete ties on many lines, put in several new high speed interlockings east of Jamaica, and built a new yard & shop near Sunnyside. The average age of the cars in their fleet is 8.01 years old as compared to a national average of 18.3 years old.
Metro North has been engaged in a year’s long project to redo all the electrification on the New Haven line, as well as rebuilding most of the bridges. I'm not sure if they're also laying all new rail or not, perhaps Dutch knows. They extended the Harlem line a few years back by several miles to the north. They're rebuilding the main shops at Croton Harmon. Rebuilt the Park Avenue viaduct maybe 10 to 15 years ago. Put in new concrete ties on much of their track. They built a new yard & shop at Highbridge, near Yankee Stadium. And I know that they're also busy rebuilding stations. The average age of their rail cars is 18.28 years and that number will start going lower as the new M8 rail cars for the New Haven line start arriving and the 50+ year old M2 cars currently in use are retired.
New York's transit system may have its problems and issues, but it's not as bad as many riders think it is. The problem is that they don't ride other systems and have no clue how bad it really can be. And NY is certainly not resting on its laurels!
