NEW YORK — The morning commute began like it always does for writer Judy McPartland of Long Beach. She dashed aboard the 8:38 to Brooklyn to join the train mates she sits beside almost every day, the New York Newsday reported.
But as she stepped across the threshold onto Train No. 827 yesterday morning, her eyes grew wide. Gone was the familiar dated, dark-paneled and dimly lit coach she rode most mornings, and in its place sat a gleaming steel M-7 train, the newest of the Long Island Rail Road fleet bedecked with coordinated teal and blue seats.
“Wow,” she said. “It’s really nice and warm.”
With little fanfare, the LIRR rolled out its M-7 yesterday morning on an inaugural run from Long Beach to Brooklyn. The six-car train was the first to go into service and will continue to run on the Long Beach and Ronkonkoma lines. A second train is expected to launch in December and the railroad will roll out an average of two trains — some 20 cars — per month starting next year.
Though the M-7 train has been running on LIRR tracks for more than a month for testing purposes, yesterday was the first time the cars carried passengers.
“This is not your momma’s train,” said Richard Hurwitz, a doctor from Long Beach, who settled back into his ergonomically correct seat. “This is really nice. It’s more comfortable and more modern looking.”
Commuter Roger Woo hung his leather jacket and hat on the coat hooks built into the light gray wall, one of the new touches of the M-7 interior.
“I like the signage,” he said as he glanced at the electric signs that illuminated the name of each upcoming station.
The trains, which cost roughly $1.7 million per car, will eventually supplant the railroad’s aging electric fleet of M-1 cars purchased nearly three decades ago. A total of 678 already have been ordered at a total cost of $1.3 billion, and railroad president Kenneth Bauer has said he would like to purchase up to 200 more.
“It looks a lot neater,” said Brenda Clayton, a commuter on her way to job interviews in Manhattan. “But I heard we are going to lose a couple of seats. I wonder what will happen at rush hour.”
In order for the new trains to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, there are fewer seats than the current fleet. Each pair of cars will seat 211 to 213 passengers, compared with 238. However, there is a bigger bathroom that can fit a wheelchair and room for wheelchair seating.
LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan said the railroad will offset the loss of seats by increasing its fleet size. By 2007, the electric fleet will grow to 1,088 with the new M-7s and M-3 cars, which were purchased in 1985. The electric fleet now stands at 900 cars.
Several commuters said yesterday they were impressed with the ride.
“Well, it’s about time,” said Bob Popkin, a dentist who boarded the train at Oceanside. “How nice.”
But Suzan Grossman Kerner, an attorney from East Rockaway, thought the seats seemed too narrow.
“I feel crammed against my neighbor,” she said.