(The following story by Caren Halbfinger appeared on The Journal News website on June 28.)
NEW YORK — On their way home tonight, railroad riders can toast the facts: There will be no strike this summer, and by spring 2009, pocket-ripping armrests will be a thing of the past.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board approved a 6 1/2 -year contract for the Teamsters Local 808, the last remaining union that had been without a contract, assuring that labor unrest will not disrupt service. The board also agreed to spend $1.2 million to replace the sticky armrests that have ripped the pockets on the pants and coats of riders of the M7 trains on Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem and Hudson lines, racking up more than $100,000 in repairs or replacements. Armrests will be replaced starting in April.
“It’s a shame they can’t scuttle the whole train,” said Stephen Sonnenfeld, an advertising executive from Scarsdale who was waiting for a train at the village station. “They were poorly designed and conceived. There’s not enough room all-around.”
The board also agreed to keep selling liquor from bar carts at Grand Central Terminal and on bar cars on Connecticut-bound New Haven Line trains. A board task force concluded that liquor sales didn’t pose a safety risk after it reviewed police reports and drunken-driving arrests from the areas around Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road stations.
Mitch Pally, the board member who believes the railroad shouldn’t encourage riders to drink, vowed to continue to push for a change in policy. Some riders, however, were relieved.
“It would have been a travesty if they had changed the drinking policy,” Sonnenfeld said.
Rosalie Galante, 48, a visiting nurse from Hartsdale, said she had gotten bruises from the armrests and was glad to see them go. At the same time, she said she was glad she would still be able to unwind with a drink at the end of the day if she chose.