NJ Transit plans on replacing all windows on its 429 multilevel railcars, bringing clarity to riders who have struggled to see the state's landscapes and station signage for years.

Rail advocate Paul Mulligan of Cape May said NJ Transit's clouded-up windows have been a problem "for generations." But in the next month or two, the agency will replace its first batch of 400 windows that have been damaged by ultraviolet rays.

"The program will begin over the next few months as those windows arrive, and railcars come in for scheduled inspections," NJ Transit spokesperson Kyalo Mulumba wrote in an email.

The first batch of 400 windows will cost about $344,000 with installation expected to be completed in house. Mulumba wrote that there are approximately 13,000 windows that the agency is looking to replace.

Replacing all windows would likely cost millions of dollars, but the full purchase has not yet been approved.

For fiscal year 2025, the agency has an operating budget of $3 billion and a capital budget of $1.68 billion.

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While the agency does not have an estimate for when the project would be completed, Mulumba wrote, "We will have a better estimate of a completion timeframe once the process begins and we determine how long each vehicle takes to complete."

During a board meeting on April 19, 2023, Kevin Corbett, the president and CEO of NJ Transit, said that the "polycarbonate train windows (had) become cloudy over time due to exposure to elements such as acid rain, heat and ultraviolet rays."

According to Mulumba, unlike the current windows, the new windows, while still plastic, "will feature high optical clarity, excellent UV resistance, high resistance to scratches, abrasions, vandalism and chemicals and are virtually unbreakable."

Mulligan, a former director of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers who now spends his retirement restoring historic railroad equipment, said other train agencies have had the same problem with foggy windows.

"It's universal," he said. "You name the railroad and the entity, they have similar problems."

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'Little vandals think that it's a hoot to throw rocks'

Mulligan said, historically trains used glass for its windows. However, glass windows are easier to shatter.

"Unfortunately, we live in a world where little vandals think that it's a hoot to throw rocks at trains," he said. "One of the solutions to the problem is plastic. And regrettably the plastic windows, ... they scratch easily. ... And over time, UV radiation tends to make them milky."

Mulligan pointed to the difference between the restored train cars he focuses on that are used to take passengers on joy rides, and NJ Transit's cars that are designed for commuter traffic.

"You (have) a trade-off between a plastic window for the resistance to rock throwing or a glass window that gives the passenger a more enjoyable view out the window," Mulligan said. "Generally speaking, a commuter agency may feel like their passengers are more interested in getting from point to point than looking out the window like a daisy picker. But on an excursion railroad, the experience of the ride is everything."

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NJ Transit is not alone

Other transit agencies have also begun looking at ways to address its railcars' foggy windows.

At a Sept. 25 news conference, Rob Free, president of MTA Long Island Rail Road, said the new M9A railcars that the agency is ordering will have glass windows.

"The M7s and the M9s have what's called a polycarbonate window, which was much lighter and we thought it would hold up better," Free said.

However, ultraviolet rays have fogged up many of the windows on those railcars that run on the LIRR. Windows that face the south side are most affected by the ultraviolet rays.

MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan wrote in an email that "While many years of sunlight exposure results in polycarbonate window fogging, we are pleased that this issue has not had an impact on the cars' primary objective -- getting people to their destinations safely."

He said certain rail lines do not have as many railcars with foggy windows, because their railcars are older.

For example, the Metro-North line, which services the northern suburbs of New York City and Connecticut, features M3, M7 and M8 railcars. The M3 railcars from the mid-1980s have glass windows. While the M7 and M8 railcars both have polycarbonate windows, the M8 railcars were purchased in the early 2010s and have not had the same amount of exposure to the elements as the M7 railcars, which were purchased in the early 2000s.

While NJ Transit is looking to replace its windows, Free said the MTA is looking to retire existing railcars altogether and replace those with newer railcars.

"To replace the existing windows would be an exorbitant amount of money and work, as we have to take the car apart to get to those windows," he said.

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According to NJ Transit spokesperson Mulumba, the transit agency is also in the process of replacing its older railcars. The new multilevel railcars will have the new windows already installed.

Since the mid-2000s, NJ Transit has exclusively purchased multilevel passenger railcars in an effort to phase out its single-level railcars.

In total, NJ Transit has 429 multilevel railcars. The trains with replaced windows will be dispersed throughout NJ Transit's network of rail lines.

"We appreciate our customers' patience as the process to replace all the windows in the entire fleet of multilevel rail cars advances," Mulumba wrote.