transportation

Train Nearly Takes Out Senator During Safety Press Conference

The Metro-North’s reputation has taken a hit over the last couple years, given the two major derailments — one of which killed four people — a system-wide outage that left thousands of passengers stranded in the dead of winter, and several fatal accidents on the tracks. On Friday, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal held a press conference on a platform at the Milford Metro-North station to discuss its less-than-stellar safety record, which includes $552,000 in fines for 139 violations and defects over the last decade. (That’s five times more problems than any other commuter railroad in the country, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration.) But, as Milford Mayor Ben Blake spoke at the podium, an oncoming train gave Blumenthal a friendly reminder that riders also have to do their part to avoid becoming the subject of a grisly scene.

Just as Blake informed the crowd that “safety, as you know, is paramount,” an Amtrak* roared into the station and nearly took out Blumenthal, his easel, and his chart — all of which were situated in the middle of the thick, yellow line intended to show people where they should not stand if they don’t want to become commuter railroad-kill.

The sheepish smiling and silence that follows the Democrat’s near-brush with the locomotive really says it all.

* This post originally misidentified the train featured in the above video as a Metro-North train, when it was actually just an Amtrak train passing through the Metro-North station.

Train Nearly Takes Out Senator