Congressional Republicans were taking a privately chartered Amtrak train to a retreat at their luxury Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV this morning when it crashed into a white garbage truck near Charlottesville and killed a man:

“Just over an hour into the train ride from Washington to West Virginia, Republican lawmakers traveling to their annual retreat were settling in for the long excursion, chatting with colleagues or family or simply stretching their legs.

Without warning, the train slammed into a white garbage truck.

“It was quite a jolt,” said Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.). “It was just ‘bam.’?”

“You could feel we had hit something,” said Sen. Mike Lee (Utah). “It took us maybe a quarter-mile to stop.”

The force from the chartered 10-car Amtrak train sliced into the truck on the tracks Wednesday, killing one person and injuring at least five, a deadly start for a GOP gathering focused on party unity and election-year strategy.

Shortly after impact, the doctors among the Republican rank-and-file ignored security officials’ warning not to leave the train and rushed to help. Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), a physician, along with Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (Ohio) helped carry one truck passenger several hundred yards to an ambulance. …”