The rebuilt R30s were finished in a fox red color and were called the BMT Redbirds.

In January 1990, all rebuilt R30s were removed from passenger service due to a failure in a converter bracket that resulted in a train of R30s derailing near the Bedford Park Boulevard station.

[2] The fleet was slowly placed back into service following the incident, but two years later, the MTA made the decision to retire the 162 overhauled cars.

A risk assessment analysis was performed in 1991 to either put the cars in long-term storage or to retire them.

Installing air conditioning would have been a difficult procedure and would have added extra weight to the cars.

Despite the premature retirement of the fleet, the spare factor in the B Division was only lowered by 12%, which did not cause an adverse effect on service.

[3] After retirement, most cars were sent to what is now Sims Metal Management's Newark facility to be scrapped and processed.