Train Carrying Republican Lawmakers Kills One after Crashing into Truck

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Summary: An Amtrak train full of Republican lawmakers hit a garbage truck on Wednesday, killing one. 

An Amtrak train heading to West Virginia collided with a garbage truck on Wednesday. The train carried several members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, and they were on their way to a mid-week retreat.

  

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The members of Congress on the train were mostly fine, only a few sustaining minor injuries, CNN reported. The accident caused one fatality, although the identification of the deceased was not provided by authorities as of today.

“The President has been fully briefed on the situation in Virginia and is receiving regular updates,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders said. “There is one confirmed fatality and one serious injury. There are no serious injuries among members of Congress or their staff.”

Amtrak stated that the garbage truck was on the train tracks when the collision occurred in Crozet, Virginia.

“There are no reported injuries to passengers or crew members,” Amtrak said in its statement.

The train had almost 200 Republican members of Congress, their families, and aids onboard, and it was heading from Washington’s Union Station to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The lawmakers were on their way to a retreat at The Greenbrier, and it was scheduled for Wednesday to Friday.

The retreat will be moderated by Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, and President Donald Trump will give a speech on Thursday. Neither of the two were on the train.

Representative Roger Marshall of Kansas, who is also a doctor, reportedly provided first aid and CPR to the train’s conductor and others before an ambulance arrived.

Newsweek reported that Wednesday’s accident was not the only train-vehicle crash this year. On January 14, an Amtrak train crashed into an SUV and killed two in North Carolina. The SUV had tried to cross the tracks after it had ignored the lowered crossing arms, and those in the vehicle had managed to escape before the train hit.

On January 16, an Amtrak collided with an occupied vehicle in California, killing the driver. Newsweek stated that between 2010 and 2014, there was an average of 2,100 collisions a year between trains and vehicles. Amtrak investigators said that these accidents can occur because of train’s high speeds, distracted engineers, and old infrastructure.

The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched two dozen people to Wednesday’s crash site. They said that they will provide more information as their investigation continues.

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What do you think of the safety of Amtrak trains? Let us know in the comments below.