Political Quotes

“Madam President, let me describe what happened in 2008 in Chatsworth, CA. On September 12, 2008, Metrolink commuter train 111, carrying more than 200 people, departed the Chatsworth train station about 4:20 p.m. Heading west, the commuter train ran through a train signal at 44 miles per hour at about 4:22 p.m. and 2 seconds. The train signal showed red, for stop. At the same time, a Union Pacific freight train, weighing four times the weight of the commuter train, was heading east on the same track. It exited a tunnel with little time to react to the oncoming commuter train. Both trains were on the same track going in opposite directions, each going roughly 40 miles per hour. The trains collided head on. The carnage was unspeakable; 25 people died. Their bodies, many torn to pieces, had to be extracted from heaps of steel and wreckage. This is the scene. This is the commuter train. This is the freight train. This is the car that essentially chopped apart 25 people. As Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman wrote: These were teachers, Federal, State, municipal employees, business owners, executives, artists and students that were all lost on that day. Many families were left without any provider, not to mention the loss of a mom or dad. Another 101 people were injured, many of them very seriously. Volunteers and rescue crews worked valiantly to pull them from the wreckage. You can see this overturned train here. You see the rescue crews. It was a terrible, terrible scene.…”