Letting off some steam on your train ride to and from Connecticut is about to get classier.
Next week Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy will announce the return of bar cars which once again transport tipsy passengers along Metro-North's New Haven Line, as first reported by CT Post and confirmed to DNAinfo New York by a source.
The watering holes on wheels started topped off riders' plastic cups in the 1970s, when when the M-2 model was introduced. Nostalgic commuters who frequented the bar cars might remember their faux-leather banquets, fake wood panels, and saucer-shaped cup-holders.
While alcohol is generally permitted on the New Haven Line, bar carriage numbers dwindled from a peak of 10 to four over the past few decades. Patrons circulated petitions and launched a website to save them, but the last call came on May 9, 2014.
Now it appears the rolling saloons will return.
Malloy is expected to announce Connecticut's purchase of 60 M-8 rail cars, 10 of which will serve booze, a source said.
Metro-North operates the New Haven line as part of an agreement between New York state and Connecticut.
When reached Monday, an MTA spokesman said he could not comment on the return of the bar cars and referred DNAinfo to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
Connecticut officials had scrapped an earlier design proposal for a ready-to-use M-8 bar car because they were too expensive, state Department of Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker told Hearst Connecticut Media.
The price of retrofitting an existing M-8 car — a process that involves tearing out the seats — has yet to be released.
