Renegade Albany Amtrak Train Saved by RPI Freshman

While we were prepping for our Thanksgiving dinners and having a day off from work, some people were on their way to their families and thanks to one RPI freshman, may be lucky to be alive!

WNYT reported on Wednesday night that a train leaving the Albany-Rensselaer train station headed to New York City caused serious delays. What Amtrak is reporting as a "mechanical issue" turned out to be a missing part of the train. Someone posted on Twitter that they "heard a pop, smelled electrical burning, felt a rush of cold air" and that's when they looked to the back and found that part of the train was missing. Thankfully, everyone was safe.

What we're learning now from WNYT is that RPI Freshman Reuben Clarke was a big reason for everyone's safety. Clarke said that shortly after leaving Albany-Rensselaer, headed to NYC to spend the holiday with his family, he felt the train "getting wobbly" and started noticing sparks from below. That's when, thinking quickly, he jumped to pull the emergency break. With Clarke's quick thinking, he stopped the train from potentially coming in contact with any other dangers and allowed all of those passengers to get to their final destination safely.