Contract timeline In mid-2012, the MTA issued a joint procurement request for the LIRR and Metro-North for a total of up to 676 M9 railcars, set for delivery between 2016 and 2020. On September 18, 2013, Kawasaki Heavy Industries was awarded a nearly $1.8 billion contract for the order, comprising a base order of 92 cars for the LIRR (costing $355 million) with options for an additional 584 cars (304 for the LIRR and 280 for MNR). Funding for the 92-car base order was included in the MTA's 2010-2014 Capital Plan, with funding for the rest of the order included in the 2015–2019 and future capital plans. Of the 416 cars ordered for the LIRR, 160 would be M9A cars, a separate order to be paid for with federal funding from the
Federal Transit Administration under the East Side Access project. However, that November, Metro-North stated that they were "working with LIRR to procure new M9A cars in the next Capital Program to provide additional capacity and to replace their existing M3s." By October 2017, car production was delayed again as the 92-car base order was now scheduled for delivery between July 2018 and March 2019, at a cost of $393 million. Construction delays in the East Side Access project meant that delivery of M9 and M9A railcars intended for use on that line had been deferred. An M9 trainset was delivered to Pueblo for testing in 2017, but LIRR field tests had been pushed back to April 2018. By June 2016, the M9 cars that were ordered for the LIRR were expected to be delivered starting in November 2018. The MTA officially awarded the M9A contract to Alstom on June 23.
Delivery schedule The 416 cars of the LIRR's M9/M9A order is split into four parts. In July 2014, the delivery schedule was as follows: 92 base order cars (to be completed by April 2018) and 88 option 1 cars (to be completed by November 2018) to replace the M3 fleet as well as 76 option order cars (to be completed by August 2020) and 160 M9A cars (to be completed by October 2021) to be used for East Side Access service increases. 14 pilot cars were to be delivered September 2016 for testing, with the production cars being delivered at a rate of 12 cars per month. The balance of 188 cars for Metro-North was expected to begin delivery in December 2018 and be completed February 2020. By October 2016, the MTA forecast ordering 140–170 cars for Metro-North, which would bring the total size of the M9/M9A order to a maximum of 586 cars. The M9s began testing on June 12, 2018, and were expected to go into service by the end of May 2019. However, a variety of issues or bugs were found on the cars, delaying debut for additional weeks, until all of these issues or bugs have been resolved or ironed-out. The cars in the original base order were expected to be completed in January 2020. The first 8-car set of M9s entered service on September 11, 2019, on the
Port Jefferson Branch. , there were 74 cars in revenue service. The LIRR had identified numerous defective components that Kawasaki had to fix. this date was later pushed back to May 2024. The last M9 cars were delivered in mid-May 2024. On April 17, 2025, car 9157 was damaged in a railroad crossing accident near
Pinelawn station. == Features ==