AT LAST, THE LONG AWAITED R110A VIDEO HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! On a summer afternoon in 1993 the R110A was picked up as it came into East 180th St. and was taped to 149th St-Grand Concourse (Mott Ave). THE TRAIN-The R110A and it's IND sister the R110B were prototype trains built in the early '90's by Kawasaki (R110A) and Bombardier (R110B) for the MTA to test for the next generation of subway cars to replace its aging fleet. The cars were delivered in 1992 to much fanfare and were tested on the number 2 line for the IRT and the A line for the IND or B division. The R110A was the prototype for the R142/142A subway cars currently in use. The R110B train was the prototype for the R143/160 equipment now currently in use on the IND//BMT system. Some of the major differences in the R110A to the R142's can be seen and heard in this video. The announcements were made by a female voice that also included the "stand clear of the closing doors" announcements. The doors make a rather annoyingly "eek,eek,eek", warning sound when the doors are closing as opposed to the more pleasant "ding,dong" chime that the R142's have. Also, the R110A cars were the only IRT cars to have transverse style seating similar to the early IND/BMT cars as the R1/9, R-10 and the R44/46 series. Each car's seats were different colors. Car 8001 in the video had red seats while 8002 had yellow seats. The R110A's service life was relatively short, being retired in 2000 after only 8 years of service, as was the R110B . The R110A cars are currently in storage.