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Here's What Subway Cars Look Like After Years At The Bottom Of The Atlantic
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 23, 2015
Modified Oct 23, 2015
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Photo courtesy of Express Water Sports
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 23, 2015
Modified Oct 23, 2015
Share
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Some of the subway cars that you once rode, just barely missed, cursed at, shamed manspreaders inside of, and fell asleep in... are deep underwater now. The retired cars have been used to create artificial reefs up and down the eastern seaboard—Jeff Tinsman, of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources, once called them: “luxury condominiums for fish."
The subway reef program was active in the early aughts, and at the time National Geographic explained the process the cars underwent before they were pushed off a barge: "Materials that were potentially dangerous, such as the oily and greasy undercarriages, were removed; doors and windows were taken off; and the interiors were steam cleaned." This left 20,000 pound boxes "with good water circulation and lots of nooks and crannies for fish."
Thousands of these cars were pushed overboard, and while we've seen them before their final dive, what do they look like now, after years of being down there? It's a little surreal seeing our mass transit covered in coral.
These photos show an old subway car that's now a part of the Bill Perry Reef system off the coast of Myrtle Beach, SC. This area is home to around 40 NYC subway cars, which were placed there in 2008. The subway reef project was brought to a halt around the same time, after some environmental concerns, and the realization that some of the newer cars were seeing rapid deterioration. You'll be able to see the car towards the end of this video:
We reached out to the MTA for comments on the project, and will update if we hear back.
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subway cars
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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