(Newsday posted the following article by Jennifer Maloney on its website on March 13.)
NEW YORK — As in years past, the Long Island Rail Road will ban alcohol on St. Patrick’s Day in trains and at stations, railroad officials said.
“In an effort to maintain orderly travel for our customers attending the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, alcoholic beverages will not be permitted,” the LIRR said in a statement released Monday. Alcohol will be banned on Saturday and the early hours of Sunday, until 4 a.m.
Alcoholic drinks observed or found at LIRR facilities will be confiscated by Metropolitan Transportation Authority police, the LIRR said. The LIRR also will not sell alcoholic beverages on St. Patrick’s Day.
The railroad has banned alcohol on St. Patrick’s Day and New Year’s Eve in years past.
In addition to the alcohol ban Saturday, the LIRR will offer 13 extra trains — six westbound in the morning, seven eastbound in the afternoon — to accommodate paradegoers.
An MTA task force is reviewing the agency’s policy of selling alcohol on platforms and LIRR and Metro-North trains.
Metro-North operates 16 bar carts at Grand Central Terminal and up to nine bar cars from noon to 9:07 p.m. weekdays on its New Haven line.
The LIRR operates 12 bar carts on platforms at Penn Station, Flatbush Avenue and Jamaica during the evening rush hour. It offers on-board bar carts on two daily evening trains departing from Penn Station. During the summer, the LIRR operates bar carts at Hunters Point Avenue and provides at-seat beverage service on two Hamptons reserve cars.
Last August, an 18-year-old Minnesota tourist who had been drinking on an LIRR train was killed after she fell through a gap at the Woodside station and crawled in front of an oncoming train. She did not purchase alcohol from the MTA.