Conn. Sen. Almost Smacked by Amtrak

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I noticed that they were standing right on the "Stay behind the yellow line" reminder when at the podium. And after the train passed, the Senator went right back to standing on the yellow! :eek:

Great "safety" message, Senator!
 
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Probably never was on Amtrak.
Highly unlikely. I am sure he has been on amtrak. Most people that I know in the Northeast have ridden amtrak at some point.
A Northeast Corridor Senator who has not ridden Amtrak (or at least a Commuter line) would almost be a news in and of itself. Besides having ridden Amtrak (or even one of the half a dozen other operators on the NEC) is no guarantee at all that people will behave safely in the vicinity of trains or rail tracks.
 
Probably never was on Amtrak.
Yes, it would be very unusual for a US Senator from CT (looking him up on wikipedia) who was born in Brooklyn, graduated from Harvard and Yale Law, was CT State Attorney General for 20 years, and lives in Greenwich CT to not have taken Amtrak and Metro-North numerous times. Amtrak is routinely used by many Senators and members of Congress and their staffers to travel between DC and NYC (to hit up the campaign contributors). Union Station in DC is in easy walking distance of Capitol Hill after all.

As for this incident, it was a press event/stunt to criticize safety at Metro-North. Whoever organized this obviously wanted the optics of the backdrop of a train station. Why didn't someone point out that a narrow platform of an operating train station was a stupid place to hold a press event is a good question. If you look at the video, you see that Senator Blumenthal is not that startled by the close proximity of the passing train; he is more amused after the train starts passing by. Someone unfamiliar with trains would likely have been freaked out.

Fortunately for the Senator, he is not up for re-election until 2016. Has a couple of years to live this down. If he was running for election this year, the video clip could be fodder for his opponent or a SuperPAC for ads showing the clip asking do you want to re-elect this guy? :p
 
Why do Americans need handrails, warning signs, and bright flashing colors to understand what a normal person should be able to intuit? Oh, wait, that's right....lawyer heaven...
 
If this had turned out worse than it did, Congress would probably have immediately gone into action requiring screen doors at all stations. Afterall, whatever it takes to deal with Congressional stupidity is fair game.
 
A Northeast Corridor Senator who has not ridden Amtrak (or at least a Commuter line) would almost be a news in and of itself. Besides having ridden Amtrak (or even one of the half a dozen other operators on the NEC) is no guarantee at all that people will behave safely in the vicinity of trains or rail tracks.
Bingo.

Case in point - the Red Line platform after a Cubs game.
 
7 of the 10 highest income counties surround DC. Your tax dollars at work supporting these blowhards.
 
No one ever accused our representatives of intelligence. We vote for them because we want them to provide us with more than our fair share of government largesse. They, in turn, demonstrate their "usefulness" by putting on shows to make us believe they are doing what we pay them to do.

This is true whether it be a senator showing how he can cut 10 cents out of a trillion dollar budget or help the poor by spending someone else's money. [sarcasm off]
 
Standing in the yellow zone of an active high speed rail station! Not paying any attention to an approaching train! These guys should be forced to perform 40 hours community service at Operation Lifesaver

by attending some classes on rail safety!!
 
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Why do Americans need handrails, warning signs, and bright flashing colors to understand what a normal person should be able to intuit? Oh, wait, that's right....lawyer heaven...
In NY at least, there is a law for all dwellings in an apartment building, a sticker be placed at eye level on the door, which says: "in case of fire, stay calm. Notify the Fire Department and follow directions of Fire Dept. personnel". A list of instructions follows that would take 2 minutes to read.
You ask why we need this stuff? Because we are FUBAR.
 
Actually, I'm kind of surprised he didn't call "his people" and have the train held, with all its passengers, some distance from the station, until he was done.

That's how I thought politicians did things.....
 
They should have called it a rail safety "demonstration." The train seems to have brushed the sign.
 
Does anyone know if personnel from metro north were present?

Did the good Senator just show up with props and cameras without notifying the railroad?
 
It was the good Senator and the good Mayor of the town. I suspect it was the good Mayor of the town who instigated this more than the good Senator, and I have heard that no one bothered to inform MNRR about it. Afterall the Mayor thinks he is the boss of everything in his realm, so why ask? ;)
 
Sorry, my bad.

The Daily News article specifically states he did not ask for permission from Metro North.

Apparently the railroad knew nothing about the staged event.
 
And on our Nightly Dose of Liberalism from Nothing But Cr*p Brain Williams insisted with authority the train was an Acela Express when obviously it was a Regional! Amazing!
 
And so it continues, the vid that was posted LAST WEEK of Amtrak Regional passing VERY CLOSE to a "news conference-PR event" was shown on NBC News tonite, and Brian called it "the high speed Acela.... "

"sigh "
 
And on our Nightly Dose of Liberalism from Nothing But Cr*p Brain Williams insisted with authority the train was an Acela Express when obviously it was a Regional! Amazing!
Um, I get that he (and his writers) made a factual error but these rest of your description is a bit over the top, IYAM. And as factual errors go, it really wasn't

central to the story.
 
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