With respect to the description in the novel of how the controller is rigged for the getaway, this version is more faithful than the original film.
Shot in Toronto's TTC subway system, mainly using the system's only abandoned station platform and two of a class of older cars being retired by the TTC. The two cars were shipped by road to the scrapyard the day after filming ended, still disguised as New York cars.
Mr Blue asks Piscotti whether or not New York has the death penalty, to which he replies, No. This was true for the first film upon which this is based, made in 1974 after the US Supreme Court banished it nationwide. In 1995, however, NY State Governor George Pataki brought it back, so it was in force, but never used in practice, until it was banished in 2004 by the New York Supreme Court.
Lisa Vidal's character's name Babs Cardoza is never mentioned or spoken of.
At about 15 minutes into the film, a frightened passenger (who is in the middle of the subway hijacking) pleads to get off the train and then explains that she has been through a similar ordeal on the Long Island RailRoad possibly referring to the 1993 Colin Ferguson shooting.