The cars were built in La Pocatière, Quebec, with final assembly done in Auburn, New York and Barre, Vermont, under a license from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, manufacturer of the previous R62 order.

The contract had been given to Bombardier due to Kawasaki's refusal to build the additional cars under a separate order.

[13][14] When the R188s displaced the R62As from the 7 during the 2010s, the LED lights remained in use since both the 6 and the 7 local services have express variants that run in the peak direction during rush hours.

Following the successful delivery of the 325-car R62 order, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) put out a bid for an additional 825 cars.

[8] The first ten R62As, numbered 1651–1660, had their body shells built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan and were shipped to Bombardier for their use as samples during their production.

[15][16] Car 1716 was rebuilt and returned to service, but 1909 was retired due to mid-body and frame damage and scrapped in 2001.

[17] Starting in November 2017, as part of an action plan to fix the subway's state of emergency, several cars assigned to the 42nd Street Shuttle had most of their seats removed in order to increase capacity on that service.

On January 4, 2024, two 1 trains made up of R62A cars partially derailed and collided just north of the 96th Street station.

[22][23] In 2010, the MTA proposed mid-life technological upgrades for the R62As, including LED destination signs and automated announcements.