(The following article by Mark Ginocchio was posted on the Stamford Advocate website on December 9.)
STAMFORD, Conn. — State Department of Transportation officials say they intend to keep the New Haven Line’s bar car stocked and in service for the foreseeable future, despite a New York proposal banning liquor sales on Long Island and Metro-North railroads.
Because of the state’s agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New York-based agency that runs Metro-North, the New Haven Line would not be affected by any legislation coming out of the Empire State, said Eugene Colonese, rail administrator for DOT’s rail bureau.
“We recognize how important the bar car is and we plan to continue running it,” he said yesterday.
If any liquor ban was authorized by the MTA, the state would “have to talk to Metro-North about any legal issues” in selling alcohol on the New Haven Line on New York property, but “under our agreements with Metro-North, there are ways to resolve these type of issues,” Colonese said.
The New Haven Line is mainly subsidized by Connecticut.
Earlier this week, Mitchell Pally, an MTA board member from Long Island, made the recommendation to ban liquor sales on Metro-North and LIRR properties.
The suggestion came four months after an 18-year-old woman was fatally struck by a LIRR train when she fell through the gap between the platform and the train at the Woodside, N.Y., station.
The New York Public Transportation Safety Board cleared the railroad of any blame in the incident, but the woman’s blood-alcohol level was .23 percent, which may have contributed to her fall, the report said.
The MTA executive board will review Pally’s proposal at its monthly meeting next week. Connecticut does not have a seat on the MTA board.
The New Haven Line is one of the last commuter lines in the country to have an on-board bar service serving drinks and snacks.
Metro-North eliminated the bar cars on its New York Hudson and Harlem lines to free up seats for commuters, but they have remained popular in Connecticut, even getting a Web site dedicated to their fans, www.barcar.com.
The state operates 10 bar cars and plans to get new, upgraded ones when it starts receiving new rail cars as part of its $881 million contract with Kawasaki Rail Cars Inc. of Yonkers, N.Y.
Customers can view which New Haven Line cars offer bar car service by checking the timetable, which prints a martini glass icon next to the scheduled train.
In addition to the New Haven Line’s bar cars, Metro-North has bar service counters on many of its platforms in Grand Central Terminal.
These carts could be affected by the New York legislation.
Bar-car enthusiasts said they were pleased that the New Haven Line will continue to offer bar service on trains regardless of any legislation, but found the MTA proposal disconcerting.
“We don’t want this to affect us in Connecticut, and this (proposal) made me stop and think of what could happen in the future,” said Terri Cronin, a Norwalk commuter and co-vice chairwoman for the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council.
Most people who are intoxicated on the bar car were likely drinking before they got to the train, said Cronin, who, through the commuter council is spearheading an effort to get new bar cars for the New Haven Line.
And because commuters are only in the bar car for their hourlong ride, the law would do little to change people’s drinking behavior, she said.