NEW YORK (AP) – After hearing passengers gripe for years, the commuter railroads that serve Connecticut and Long Island want to replace thousands of train armrests that had a habit of tearing people’s pants pockets as they sat down.

But the effort won’t be cheap.

Buying the 36,366 new armrests for railcars on the Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road will cost nearly $3.6 million, officials said.

The two transit lines have asked the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to approve a contract to acquire the replacements from the company that made the faulty seats.

Tearing the old armrests out and putting the new ones in will likely cost the railroads hundreds of thousands of dollars more in labor, and take until at least 2010.

Commuters may feel the cost is worth it.

Over the years, the two railroads have had to pay more than $100,000 to settle damage claims by riders whose clothing was damaged by the armrests, which were present only on some types of trains.

The replacement armrests are reportedly shorter, smoother, and less likely to slip unobserved into someone’s pockets.