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Friday Video

Friday Video: Meet the Subway’s Straphanger-Free Trains

We've all seen them. Now, thanks to YouTube's "Half as Interesting," we can tell you the purpose of each one.

12:04 AM EDT on October 3, 2025

An MTA pump train, photographed in 2012 during Hurricane Sandy.

|MTA New York City Transit / Leonard Wiggins

We've all seen them — those mysterious, empty trains filled with equipment that run through New York City's subway system.

Fortunately, thanks to YouTube show Half as Interesting, we can now tell you the purpose of each one: The track geometry car! The rail grinder! The ballast regulator! The crane car! The (water) pump train! The snow throwers, blowers and deicers! The materials transport cars! The (retired) money car! The VakTrak!

We've all seen these non-passenger trains. Yet Half as Interesting scoured the city and somehow couldn't find a single one. And the MTA declined to help out. Instead, the show asked its viewers to send in their own videos, which they did. In large numbers.

Watch the full eight-minute rundown here:

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This piece was the work of the Streetsblog staff.

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