LIRR To Experiment With Banning Alcohol On Overnight Trains

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Long Island Rail Road is trying to figure out if banning booze on some overnight trains out of Penn Station will put a stop to disruptive behavior.

The pilot program is aimed at curbing rambunctious behavior that has occurred on overnight weekend trains, according to LIRR spokesperson Sam Zambuto.

"The decision to implement this pilot program resulted from two assaults that occurred on LIRR conductors in the month of March and as a result of that, a task force was formed to look at what could be done to help with some of the disorderly behavior," he told 1010 WINS.

Trains operating on Friday and Saturday nights between midnight and 5 a.m. will be affected by the program that will begin on May 14.

"Alcohol is an issue, not only with the assaults, but just with some of the behavior that is found on some of these overnight trains.  So the effort is to try to curb and set a different tone for that behavior on those trains," Zambuto said.

Officials said they would monitor the results of the program and see if it produces positive results.

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