Bombardier Multilevel Coach

The Bombardier MultiLevel Coach entered development in the early 2000s as a bi-level commuter rail car designed specifically for the dense rail corridors of the northeastern United States and Canada. New Jersey Transit placed the inaugural order in December 2002, purchasing 100 cars, with deliveries beginning in 2005. A follow-on order for 131 additional cars came in September 2005, and NJ Transit continued exercising contract options through August 2008, ultimately acquiring 329 first-generation cars. The Agence métropolitaine de transport, the Montreal-area commuter rail authority now known as Exo, placed its own order in December 2007 for 160 cars, with those vehicles entering service beginning in late 2009. Maryland's MARC commuter rail system subsequently ordered 54 cars in October 2011, comprising 15 cab cars and 39 trailing cars, drawn from options within the NJ Transit contract. A second generation of the design, designated MultiLevel II, was ordered by NJ Transit in September 2010, covering 100 cars with options for 79 more. These cars incorporated several detail changes compared to the original production run, most notably a revised jumper cable arrangement that affected consist compatibility. A third generation, the MultiLevel III, was ordered in December 2018, and this variant introduced a significant functional expansion by including powered cars equipped with AC electric propulsion systems capable of moving a train without a separate locomotive, with a top speed of 110 miles per hour. Bombardier was acquired by Alstom in 2021, and that company has continued fulfilling outstanding orders, marketing the coaches under the Adessia Coach branding. By the mid-2020s, total orders had grown to well over 600 cars across all generations and operators. One notable chapter in the fleet's history involved eight NJ Transit cars set aside for the Atlantic City Express Service, a premium operation that included first-class seating and lounge areas. When that service was discontinued in 2012, Bombardier converted those cars back to standard configuration between 2013 and 2014, and they returned to regular NJ Transit service by mid-2014. Separately, NJ Transit announced in October 2022 a roughly eight-million-dollar program to replace glazed polycarbonate windows across the fleet, as prolonged exposure to heat and ultraviolet light had caused widespread clouding that impaired passenger visibility.

The MultiLevel Coach is a bi-level design with a smaller loading gauge than Bombardier's earlier Bi-Level Coach, a deliberate engineering choice that allows the cars to operate through the North River Tunnels beneath the Hudson River connecting New Jersey to New York Penn Station. Seating is arranged in a two-by-two configuration, and the cars accommodate between approximately 148 and 172 passengers depending on configuration, representing a gain of roughly 15 to 30 percent over comparable single-level equipment. The intermediate levels feature five inward-facing seats on each side that fold up to create space for wheelchairs or bicycles. Single-width side doors are provided at intermediate levels for high-platform boarding, while additional doors are located outboard of the bogies. On NJ Transit cars, these outboard doors are fitted with stepwell trapdoors enabling use at both high and low platforms, whereas Exo cars have one-piece end doors suited only for low-platform access. The design traces its lineage to the Comet V coach and incorporates amenities such as automated passenger announcement systems and LED destination displays, with the MultiLevel II generation transitioning from backlit segmented LCD units to pixel-based LED screens. The vestibule floor covering also changed between generations, moving from Darkar composite material to metal Algrip surfaces in the MultiLevel II production run. Cab cars in the fleet sacrifice one row of passenger seats to accommodate a large equipment locker immediately behind the operating cab. The MultiLevel III powered cars represent a substantial technical evolution, incorporating self-propulsion capability intended to eventually replace aging Arrow III electric multiple units and potentially reduce dependence on dedicated electric locomotives on electrified NJ Transit territory.

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