page_title: M2/M4/M6 (railcar)
section_title: M6 series
hierarchical_section_title: M2/M4/M6 (railcar) / M6 series
caption_attribution_description: English: Metro North M6 in Windsor Locks for disaster training.
context_page_description: The M2, M4 and M6 were three similar series of electric multiple unit rail cars produced by the Budd Company, Tokyu Car Corporation, and Morrison Knudsen for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Initially branded as the Cosmopolitans, the cars were later more popularly known under their model names, M2, M4, M6. They ran on the New Haven Line for most of their service life.
context_section_description: As part of the MTA's 1987 Capital Program, 60 additional M4s would have been ordered to accommodate increasing ridership. This number was revised down to 48 in its February 1989 amendment, with 30 to be purchased by CTDOT, and 18 by the MTA. The December 1990 amendment changed the car order to a separate contract, the M6 series cars (9000-series).  Similar to the change with the proposed purchase of M2 cars, the decision was made to purchase improved models following a reassessment of fleet requirements. The contract called for 39 cars, with an option for 9 more cars, and was awarded to Morrison Knudsen in August 1990 for $91.5 million. Work was scheduled to begin 1991, and continue until early 1993.
  Nearly identical to the M4s, these cars were completed at Hornell, New York with body shells from Mafersa. Morrison Knudsen was the last American builder of railcars, and heavily underbid on contracts, including on this contract, to gain a large share of the market. Morrison Knudsen had almost no experience in the design of passenger railcars, and did not build a prototype for the M6. As a result, the first cars were rejected by Metro-North. In April 1995, the M6s were delayed by 18 months; only 12 cars were accepted in 1994, with the rest scheduled to be put into service in 1995. 
  The M6s featured distinctive chimes that sounded whenever the doors were closed, a feature that did not exist on the M2s or M4s. The M6s also had black framed windows, giving them the illusion of being larger than the windows on the M2s and M4s. The M6s were also commonly referred to as "triplets".
caption: A retired M6 car, now located at. the New England Disaster Training Center in Windsor Locks.
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