The R32 was a New York City Subway car model built by the Budd Company from 1964 to 1965 for the IND/BMT B Division.

As part of the refurbishment, the original rollsigns and express/local marker lights at the end of each car were replaced with flipdot signs.

The R160 order was to replace all R32s in the late 2000s, but about one-third of the original fleet remained, when it was decided to retire the NYCT R44s instead.

[3] A series of farewell trips with the final train of R32s running in passenger service began on December 19, 2021 and concluded on January 9, 2022.

[4] The R32As were funded through the proceeds of a revenue bond, while the R32s were paid for out of the 1963–1964 New York City capital budget.

The horizontally ribbed, shiny, and unpainted stainless exteriors earned the cars the nickname Brightliners.

[9] The use of stainless steel reduced the weight of each car by over 4,000 pounds, when compared to previous models.

[9] Budd had bid on previous contracts with the NYCTA, but had never won a City contract for a production run of cars until the R32s, as Budd built only stainless-steel equipment, and the TA refused to allow a differential in competitive bids for this higher-quality construction.

Budd introduced stainless steel equipment to the modern New York City Subway system, a plan that was met with limited success.

[14] A ceremonial introduction trip for the new R32 "Brightliners" cars was held on September 9, 1964, operating from the New York Central Railroad's Mott Haven Yards in the Bronx to Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan along the Park Avenue main line (presently operated by Metro-North Railroad).

[15][16][17][18] In 1974, cars 3700–3701 were sent to Garrett AiResearch's facilities in Los Angeles, California, to test out Flywheel energy storage system equipment.

This is because the air conditioning evaporators mounted on the interior car ends made it difficult to change the front route and destination signs.

The R32 Phase I cars (re-built by Morrison–Knudsen) had WABCO Air Brake packages, GE Master Controllers, and Thermo King HVAC units.

The R32 Phase II cars (also re-built by Morrison–Knudsen) had NY Air Brake equipment, Westinghouse Master Controllers, and Stone Safety HVAC units.

[23] They had experimental Sigma HVAC Units powered by A/C motors and solid state inverters, original traction motors rebuilt to 115 horsepower instead of the traditional 100 horsepower units, backlit ad signs, and different bulkhead designs.

By December 2010, only 232 active cars remained, 222 of which[25] were assigned to 207th Street Yard, operating on the A and C. These had periodically underwent intermittent SMS (Scheduled Maintenance Service, a life-extension program) cycles – at a cost of $25 million – to extend their useful lives.

Subsequently, plans were changed to retain the R32s in order for them to provide a backup fleet and support service increased frequencies until in 2022, when they would finally be replaced by the R211s.

[35][4] After a year in storage, the R32s were officially retired when the last train made final runs in December 2021 and January 2022 as part of a series of farewell trips organized by the New York Transit Museum on four consecutive Sundays.

[39] After the reefing program ended in April 2010, cars retired by the R160s were trucked to Sims Metal Management's Newark facility to be scrapped.

[47] Despite their considerable structural quality, the R32s suffered from low mechanical reliability near the end of their service lives.

They had the lowest Mean Distance Between Failures figures of the active fleet, as the overhauls they received during the 1988–89 period wore out after 29–30 years.

[47] The cars had worn-out air conditioning, propulsion, and braking systems, so they were often temporarily transferred to services with mostly outdoor or elevated portions, namely the A, J, and Z.