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Alcohol Banned on Metro-North and LIRR During SantaCon This Weekend: MTA

By Kathleen Culliton | December 7, 2016 6:32pm
 Santas cheer on Pier 84 during SantaCon.
Santas cheer on Pier 84 during SantaCon.
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flickr/Dave Bledsoe

MIDTOWN —  No sloppy Santas allowed.

Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road will implement an alcohol ban on trains and in stations this weekend when SantaCon comes to town, the MTA announced Wednesday.

The SantaCon celebrations begin 10 a.m. Saturday, when about 20,000 rowdy Santa are expected to take to the streets for a day-long pub crawl for "absolutely no reason," as organizers say.

Alcohol will not be allowed on Metro North and Long Island Rail Road trains or in Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station from noon Saturday to noon Sunday, the MTA said in a statement.

MTA police will confiscate drinks from tipsy travelers and will have authority to remove them from trains, the agency said.

The rowdy holiday party has had a fraught relationship with the city for several years — New Yorkers have frequently complained that the much-too-merry Santas urinate in public, make violent threats, vomit and vandalize.