New York has launched a tender for the largest subway fleet order in its history, according to International Railway Journal.

The announcement puts the operator of the largest metro network in North America on course for a fleet renewal without precedent in the city's subway history. No tender of comparable size has previously been issued for New York's subway rolling stock.

Details of the tender — including the number of cars, contract value and delivery schedule — were not disclosed in the initial report. Suppliers of heavy metro rolling stock will now assess the opportunity against their existing order books and capacity commitments.

For the operator, the order signals a decision to move fleet replacement from planning to procurement. For the manufacturers, a contract of record size would reshape production programmes across multiple years.