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Metro-North Rolls Out More New Cars

Commuters are riding in style on the new batch of rail cars rolled out Tuesday on the Metro-North's New Haven Line. Emma Lester, a native of Greenwich, was looking forward to her first ride on the plush cars.

“The cars are just old and tired. I grew up in Greenwich and have been commuting for years, and the seats have been torn and dirty as long as I can remember,” said Lester.

A new six-car M-8 train left New Haven at 8:04 a.m. Tuesday and arrived at Grand Central Terminal at 9:36 a.m., bringing the total of new cars on the line to 26.  

Linda Spiewak, who was waiting on the platform at the central Greenwich station Wednesday, was also looking forward to her first ride on the new cars. Although she doesn’t travel to Manhattan often, Spiewak has always noticed the poor condition of the trains. “Oh yeah, the cars are skeevy,” she said.

The train cars were built by Kawasaki Rail Car Inc. Acting Transportation Commissioner James Redeker said the state is inspecting the cars and placing them into service as quickly as possible. There are 380 M-8 cars on order, 60 of which are expected to be running by the end of the year. 

“More and more, commuters are seeing the benefits and enjoying the amenities of these new cars each week,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who announced the new service Tuesday. Malloy called it a milestone that he hopes will encourage commuters to use mass transit.

“They seem elegant. I like the fact that the windows are low, they’re aesthetically pleasing,” said a train rider named Irene, who preferred not to give her last name. “Though I think they may be a bit too metallic, and there’s not really any character to it. Before you had the conductor announce ‘next stop,’ but now it’s automated. I know it’s more efficient that way, but we may be losing out on character.”

Have you ridden the rails on the new cars yet? What did you think of them?

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