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WASHINGTON (AP) – Oh, the conversations that happen when powerful people meet.
Could the “very special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom become even more secure now that President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have bonded through their mutual love of trains?
Biden rode Amtrak almost daily between his home in Wilmington, Delaware and Washington during his 36 years as a United States Senator. He also rode on the rails when he was vice president.
Johnson hopped on an Amtrak train in New York on Tuesday, after addressing the United Nations General Assembly, to attend a White House meeting with Biden.
“Amtrak Joe” – a nickname the president has earned for his regular trips – took note as executives exchanged pleasantries at the opening of their meeting in the Oval Office.
“You got off on Amtrak, didn’t you?” Biden said.
Johnson replied that he had. “And you are a living deity on Amtrak, I can tell you that,” he replied.
Biden joked that he had driven so many miles on Amtrak – millions, he says, an Amtrak driver once told him – that “if I were a driver I would be # 1 in terms seniority “.
“I thought they should name the railroad after me or something,” the president added.
Johnson quickly noted, “They named the station after you. This is great news.
Amtrak renamed its Wilmington station after Biden in 2011, when he was vice president. Johnson’s train would have stopped there on the way to Washington.
Johnson told Biden he shared his “belief in transportation infrastructure, especially trains.”
As part of his nearly $ 1 trillion infrastructure plan, Biden proposed what the White House, according to the White House, would be the largest investment in passenger rail service in the United States since inception. from Amtrak 50 years ago.
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