(The following story by Caren Halbfinger appeared on the Journal News website on December 8.)
NEW YORK — What’s a bar car without beer, wine or liquor? Could Prohibition be coming soon to the railroad?
Just as holiday season happy hours kick into high gear, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board will consider banning booze sales from the bar carts at Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station and on the New Haven Line bar cars.
This dry idea was suggested this week by Mitchell Pally, a board member from Long Island. Pally said yesterday that he thinks “it’s bad public policy to encourage people to drink.” Rowdy drinkers can ruin the ride home for others, and there’s the danger of drinking and driving, especially since most suburban riders drive home from the station. Pally would like to keep alcohol off the trains altogether, but is suggesting this as a first step.
“It seems to me alcohol and riding on our railroad don’t mix,” he said. “I would like to have an alcohol-free ride. I don’t see any reason why anyone has to drink on our railroad.”
His suggestion comes four months after an 18-year-old woman, Natalie Smead, was hit by an LIRR train. She fell through a gap between the platform and a train at the Woodside station, crawled under a platform and was struck on the other side.
The state Public Transportation Safety Board cleared the railroad of any blame in her death.
Smead’s blood-alcohol level was 0.23 percent, well over the legal limit to drive. Smead’s family is suing the railroad for $5 million.
“The (Long Island Rail Road committee) chairman (David Mack) said (the ban) would be considered,” said MTA spokesman Tim O’Brien. “That’s as far as it went yesterday. I would assume they would take further steps.”
The suggestion went over like warm beer with bar-car lovers.
“They should keep it going,” said Miles Hirson, a mortgage broker from Rye, as he walked from the train to his car yesterday. “I don’t see many DUIs (driving under the influence) being handed out here. I have always found, except for St. Patrick’s Day, it’s under control. The drinkers, including myself, are calm, courteous and never presented a problem.”
Hirson said he often rides and imbibes in the bar car, but abstained last night because he had a squash game scheduled.
“I’d like to have the option,” said Rob Reese, an electrician who was boarding a Manhattan-bound train at Rye. “I’ve never had a problem with people getting loud.”
Syed Sohaib, a client trainer from Stamford, Conn., thought banning booze would be an improvement.
“I’m a Muslim and I don’t drink,” he said. “I would encourage (the ban). Then it won’t smell in the cars and your bags won’t get dirty from spilled drinks. If you want to drink, drink at home or with friends.”
But even some who don’t drink like the idea of a train car that’s less like a library, where mingling, laughing and talking is encouraged and where riders can relax in a fun atmosphere.
“I don’t think we should try to legislate Prohibition for the commuters,” said Jim Cameron, chairman of the Connecticut Metro-North Railroad Riders Council. “Bar cars make sense for Connecticut riders because the commutes are longer. Anything we can do to make the commute more enjoyable I’m in favor of. Let people be responsible for their behavior.”
As a point of pride, Cameron of Darien, Conn., noted that Metro-North Railroad is the only commuter railroad in North America with bar cars.
“They are the holy grail of Metro-North,” he said. “Any time a bar car is out of service, people are mad. As a matter of full disclosure, I have not had a drink in 20 years. But I don’t think it’s for us to impose morality on commuters, whether eating foods made with trans fats, drinking beer or wine, it’s up to them to be responsible for that.”
Metro-North Railroad has nine bar cars, and 17 daily New Haven Line trains that include a bar car. Connecticut plans to replace the bar cars with a new version. While Metro-North Railroad will pay 35 percent of the cost of the nonbar car new M8 trains, Connecticut Department of Transportation spokeswoman Michelle Sullivan said CDOT will pay the entire cost for each new bar car it builds.
Since Connecticut pays for it, can the MTA ban booze on these Nutmeg-state-paid-for trains? Will bartenders have to wait until the train clears Port Chester to begin pouring? Will there be no rye in Rye?
Gene Colonese, the Connecticut rail administrator, could not be reached to answer these questions.
But if the past serves as a guide, bar-car lovers won’t go down without a brawl. The railroad converted its Harlem Line bar cars to regular cars by 1985 to gain 80 more seats apiece and, by 1991, the last Hudson Line bar car ended its run. Connecticut also wanted to discontinue them in the mid-1980s to gain seats, but riders raised a ruckus and the liquor kept flowing. As a compromise, the bar cars being built will have a shorter bar and more seating.