ALEXANDRIA, Va. — After an Amtrak trip plagued by delays, U.S. Sen. John W. Warner jumped from the slowly moving train as it started to pull out of the station before he could get off, according to the Associated Press.
Warner, a Virginia Republican and strong supporter of the federally subsidized railroad, gripped his luggage with one hand, gauged the speed of the train and jumped. The senator, 75, landed on his feet and dropped to his hands unhurt last Wednesday.
A nearby attendant waved a flashlight and the train quickly came to a stop.
The angry senator then reminded several employees that he had some say about how much money the railroad receives from the federal government and promised he would take the matter up with Amtrak’s board and chairman, if need be.
“I said, ‘Well, by God, you guys can’t operate a two-car funeral parade,’ “ Warner told The Washington Post on Monday. “I was mad.”
Amtrak officials said they are investigating the incident.
“There were obviously some operational problems that went on here, and there are certain to be some disciplinary actions resulting from that incident and what led up to it,” Amtrak spokesman Bill Schulz said.
Warner was taking the train from Williamsburg to Alexandria after a day of campaigning. Warner, a railroad buff, said he was chatting about the railroad industry with train employees near Richmond when the train suddenly braked, dumping half a beer and a chicken sandwich in his lap. The train had stopped because a motorist had become stuck on the tracks, he said.
Warner said he was so impressed by the engineer’s quick response that he took down his name to write a letter of commendation.
But then signal problems delayed the train further. More time was lost in Fredericksburg when a new conductor came aboard to replace another. When the train reached Alexandria, Warner handed one of his bags to his chief of staff, Susan Magill, on the platform. Then the train unexpectedly started to move again, the senator said. An attendant frantically tried to signal the train’s engineer to stop, but Warner decided to jump.
Amtrak officials said that Warner had boarded the train again to get more luggage when the train pulled away.
“I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” Warner said, “because, a, I don’t like jumping off moving trains, and, b, we can’t be operating a railroad like this if it’s going to function and deserve these monies coming in.”