New subway cars will begin riding the rails before the end of the year.
Seventy of the oldest cars in the MTA's fleet, which have been in service for more than half a century, will come off the C, J, and Z lines when the new ones go into service.
More than 200 other new cars from the long-delayed order are expected to arrive next year.
"The manufacturers have emphasized to us that they can deliver standard-configuration cars all with a new look, new technology and new upgrades faster than they can deliver the new open-ended, open gangway cars," said Steve Plochochi, the MTA's vice president for procurement.
More than 1,000 of those "open gangway" cars, which will have wider doors and accordion-like connections between cars, are set to be in service by 2023. They are designed to boost capacity in the subway system.