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Many norms of America s rituals of presidential transition went by the wayside this past electoral season, of course. Among them, the detail of how a president-elect and his family arrive in Washington, D.C., on the day before Inauguration. Customarily, it is by government plane, sent by the outgoing administration to fetch the first-family-elect. Not so this year.
Team Biden s Plan A was arrival at Washington s Union Station from Wilmington, Delaware, by Amtrak, the path of Biden s daily commute during his 36 years in the Senate. (Wilmington s historic railroad station was renamed the Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Station in his honor in 2011.) But the violence of the attempted January 6 insurrection at the Capitol raised too many security concerns for the train likely Biden s sentimental favorite to be a viable option. Next best thing? A private chartered BBJ.