Joe Biden takes Amtrak home

8200 trips!  I'm not sure I've done that many in my car!  

Good for Joe.  He's one politician I admire.  

The landscape may had been very different this morning had Joe's son not have died from cancer .I can only echo Dan's sentiments .Way to go Joe !!!!

Yes ... way to go Joe!!!

A very close friend of mine and also of Joe Biden tells me Joe has always been a big supporter of rail transportation and Amtrak.  Then President George Bush appointed Joe's son, Robert, to the Board of Directors of Amtrak.  Robert was Vice Chrm. of the Amtrak Board of Directors when his father was elected Vice President.  To avoid any conflict of interest, he resigned that position just prior to the inauguration.

Incidentally, my friend tells me that Joe Biden is one of the nicest, most humanistic person one could meet.

Jim 

I have always liked V.P. Biden, even when he was a senator. I had heard he always too the train to D.C., but 8,200 round trips is really something. A real down to earth guy, he will be missed.

rtr12 posted:

I have always liked V.P. Biden, even when he was a senator.

Me too.  He strikes me as, if you'll pardon the expression, a "regular Joe."  As evidenced by the fact that he and his wife rode Business Class back to Delaware  rather than First Class.  

jd-train posted:

.... In the clip, Biden estimates that he has taken 8,200 roundtrips on Amtrak! ....

Jim

mike.caruso posted:

 

 He strikes me as, if you'll pardon the expression, a "regular Joe." .  

8200 trips!? Wow!

The Wilmington train station is named after him.

And, yes .... a "regular Joe." My uncle would sometimes take the train from New Jersey to get to his job at the Department of Energy. He often said what a nice man Senator Biden was on the train. A genuine person. Always asking people about their lives, their problems, their children, etc

Sounds expensive.

8200 trips sounds high - but if you assume he went each morning and came home each evening, 180 days a year (unlikely) it would only take 22 years.

I too think Joe is a good guy.  He would have been a good president.

I heard them say that he was heading to the station to take the Amtrak.  Surely he gets Secret Service protection???

bob2 posted:

8200 trips sounds high - but if you assume he went each morning and came home each evening, 180 days a year (unlikely) it would only take 22 years.

I too think Joe is a good guy.  He would have been a good president.

I just looked up Joe Biden's time in the Senate, it was from 1973 to 2009, 36 years. Looks like there was plenty of time for those 8,200 trips during that period. I most certainly agree with your last sentence.  

Its about an hour and a half commute from Wilmington, DE, to Washington, D.C. (even less with the Acela).

From Biography.com: "In November 1972 , in a tight race with a large turnout, Biden won an upset victory to become the fifth-youngest U.S. senator elected in the nation's history...A week before Christmas in 1972, Biden's wife and three children were involved in a terrible car accident while out shopping for a Christmas tree. The accident killed his wife and daughter, and severely injured both of his sons, Beau and Hunter...At the encouragement of his family, Biden decided to honor his commitment to represent the people of Delaware in the Senate. He skipped the swearing-in ceremony for new senators in Washington and instead took the oath of office from his sons' hospital room. In order to spend as much time as possible with his sons, Biden decided to continue to live in Wilmington, commuting to and from Washington each day by Amtrak train, a practice he maintained through his entire long tenure in the Senate."

Jim

Joe takes Amtrak when the Secret Service lets him. He loves to get up and talk to the other passengers. I am a R, but Joe is a regular guy. They made him fly for a while. Now he can ride the trains again.

I love the Amtrak on the East coast. I can't understand why people fly. It's the only way to really travel.

George

They probably put Joe on AMTRAK so he didn't get lost going home.

Maybe the secret service will let him drive his Corvette now too.  

bob2 posted:

8200 trips sounds high - but if you assume he went each morning and came home each evening, 180 days a year (unlikely) it would only take 22 years......

I believe in the video, he stated that he averaged 217 days per year.

jd-train posted:

From Biography.com: ..... A week before Christmas in 1972, Biden's wife and three children were involved in a terrible car accident while out shopping for a Christmas tree. The accident killed his wife and daughter, and severely injured both of his sons, Beau and Hunter...

Jim

And then, some months before the start of the presidential campaigns, his boy Beau dies from a brain tumor.

For some reason ... sometimes .... really bad things happen to really good people.

Mr Union Pacific posted:

I heard them say that he was heading to the station to take the Amtrak.  Surely he gets Secret Service protection???

He will have Service protection for a little while longer. Only former President's get it for the rest of their life.

I think the really nice thing about the Wilmington station is that the tracks go straight through. They don't end there. So if the engineer falls asleep pulling in, he isn't as likely to hit something and injure people. He could fall asleep listening to Joe (or a Republican, this isn't intended as a political statement other than of all of them in general).

Gerry

Joe Biden heads home after the Inauguration

I don't know how people ride Amtrak on long rides. Those seats are so badly flatened down that they hurt your bottom. I won't ride them anymore.

Rob

He is a great man and I can only hope we see much more from him. What a great event it would be, to share a conversation while on the train.

What a great thing for Amtrak positive publicity.

Thank you Joe Biden for your service and patriotism. God speed, Joe Biden.

I'm another "guy from Scranton."

john in western pa posted:

Thank you Joe Biden for your service and patriotism. God speed, Joe Biden.

I'm another "guy from Scranton."

Me Too!!!

A guy from St. Louis.

john in western pa posted:

Thank you Joe Biden for your service and patriotism. God speed, Joe Biden.

Agreed.  A good man all around.