Lautenberg recalled as fierce backer of mass transit

Associated Press

SECAUCUS, N.J.

It’s only fitting that a man remembered as Mr. Transportation took his final trip to Washington aboard an Amtrak train Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey was remembered at his funeral at a New York City synagogue by admirers including Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and several of Lautenberg’s children and grandchildren, who spoke of his drive to fight for what he believed, whether on the Senate floor or around the dinner table, up until his death Monday at 89 of complications from viral pneumonia.

“He never quit anything. He never gave up. He never gave in,” Biden told the 1,100 mourners.

Perhaps Lautenberg’s chief cause was mass transit, for which he worked to secure hundreds of millions of dollars during his 30 years in two stints in the Senate. He spearheaded legislation that revitalized a beleaguered Amtrak and other passenger rail systems, authorizing them money to increase high-speed rail and other initiatives.

“If it wasn’t for Frank, Amtrak wouldn’t be what it is today. That’s not an exaggeration,” Biden said.

Lautenberg’s final journey reflected a life spent as a stalwart supporter of mass transit. His coffin was sent after the service to Washington via the Northeast Corridor rail tracks he fought for years to upgrade, and his body will lie in repose in the Senate chamber and he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

After the funeral, Lautenberg’s body was taken to Secaucus’ Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction Station, which Congress voted to name for him in 2000. A brief ceremony in the station’s rotunda honored him, and then an honor guard of police officers, bagpipers and drummers escorted the coffin to a platform. Officers stood at attention as his flag-draped coffin was pushed onto the baggage car of a private Amtrak train. Lautenberg’s widow looked into the car where her husband’s coffin was loaded, and finally his family boarded two passenger cars.

Besides trains, Lautenberg also worked to change the nation’s highways and airports.

He sponsored legislation increasing the drinking age to 21 and threatened to withhold federal highway funding from states that did not comply.

He also was the driving force behind the law that banned smoking on most U.S. flights.