Anthony Torres asks people not to judge him.
A man who was mocked online after he was filmed shaving on a train has shared his full story, asking people not to mock him.
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Footage posted on Twitter showed an unidentified man, now known to be Anthony Torres, shaving with a razor and foam on a train from New York City to New Jersey.
One clip amassed more than 2.4 million views, but has since been deleted, as has the Twitter account which shared it.
The video showed Anthony sitting in a seat, steadily swiping away at his lathered face and tossing the shaving cream from the razor on to the floor.
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He did not know he was being filmed and when he found out the video was circulating on the internet, he was amazed and a little upset.
“I never thought it would go viral, people making fun of me,” he said.
In a candid interview, supported by his brother Thomas, Anthony explained the video captured him at a vulnerable moment.
He had been homeless and staying in a shelter in New York City when he had reached out to his family for help.
One brother gave him money for a train ticket, which he was using to get to Thomas in southern New Jersey.
He left the shelter before having a chance to shower and clean up and wanted to look “presentable”.
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“I don’t want to say that I’m homeless, let everybody know,” he said. “That’s why I was shaving.
“My life is all screwed up. That’s the reason I was shaving on the train.”
Online, while some humorously praised his steady hand with a razor, the videos attracted a raft of negative comments with insults like “slob,” “animal” and “nasty”.
A few cautioned against passing judgment and suggested people did not know the whole story.
Which is why Anthony is now speaking out.
After getting off the train and taking a bus, Anthony ended up at the home of his brother Thomas, 57, in Atco, New Jersey.
“Maybe people will have more feeling, knowing what this kid’s been through,” said Thomas.
They grew up poor, with four other brothers, on a farm in Hammonton, New Jersey, about 35 miles outside Philadelphia.
Anthony worked a variety of jobs including in construction and as a casino security guard. He moved where the work was, even travelling to Florida, where his adult son lives, and would live in motels or sleep in bus stations.
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Thomas says his brother’s fault is to make short-sighted decisions and not to think of the impact of his actions, like shaving in public in a train compartment.
“When he did what he did, that to him was normal,” said Thomas. “He’s not that kind of person that does it because of spite or because he wants the attention.”
When the two brothers met up, Anthony said he was prepared to sleep under a bridge and asked only for a sleeping bag.
“For so many years, he’s lived this way and I feel sorry for him. It’s hard to see the life that he’s lived.”
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A $12 billion passenger bullet train linking Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area was dubbed the first true high-speed rail line in the nation on Monday, with the private company building it predicting millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028.
“People have been dreaming of high-speed rail in America for decades,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg before taking a stage with union representatives and company officials at the future site of a terminal to be built just south of the Las Vegas Strip. “It’s really happening this time."
Buttigieg cited Biden administration support for the project that he said will bring thousands of union jobs, boost local economies and cut traffic and air pollution.
Brightline West, whose sister company already operates a fast train between Miami and Orlando in Florida, aims to lay 218 miles (351 kilometers) of new track almost all in the median of Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga, California. It would link there with a commuter rail connection to downtown Los Angeles. A station also is planned in San Bernardino County’s Victorville area.
Company officials say the goal is to have trains exceeding speeds of 186 mph (300 kph) — comparable to Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains — operating in time for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
“I believe we’ll look back at today and say, ’This was the birth of an industry of high-speed rail,'” Brightline Holdings founder Wes Edens said Monday.
The company aims to link U.S. cities that are too near each other for air travel to make sense and too far for people to drive.
Las Vegas has no Amtrak service. The idea of a bullet train to Los Angeles dates back decades under various names including DesertXpress. Brightline West acquired the project in 2019, and company and public officials say it has all required right-of-way and environmental approvals, along with labor agreements.
Brightline received Biden administration backing including a $3 billion grant from federal infrastructure funds and recent approval to sell another $2.5 billion in tax-exempt bonds. The company won federal authorization in 2020 to sell $1 billion in similar bonds.
Brightline West says electric-powered trains will cut the four-hour trip across the Mojave Desert to a little more than two hours. It projects 11 million one-way passengers per year, with fares that Edens said will be comparable to airline ticket costs. The trains will offer rest rooms, Wi-Fi, food and beverage sales and the option to check luggage.
Officials hope the train line will relieve congestion on I-15, where drivers often sit in miles of crawling traffic while returning home to Southern California from a Las Vegas weekend. An average of more than 44,000 automobiles per day crossed the California-Nevada state line on I-15 in 2023, according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority data.
Florida-based Brightline Holdings' Miami-line debuted in 2018 and expanded service to Orlando International Airport last September with trains reaching speeds up to 125 mph (200 kph). It offers 16 round-trips per day with one-way tickets for the 235-mile (378-kilometer) distance costing about $80.
Other fast trains in the U.S. include Amtrak’s Acela, which can top 150 mph (241 kph) between Boston and Washington, D.C. But fast train connections for other U.S. cities have been floated, including Dallas to Houston; Atlanta to Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago to St. Louis; and Seattle to Portland, Oregon. Most have faced delays.
In California, a proposed 500-mile (805-kilometer) rail line linking Los Angeles and San Francisco was approved by voters in 2008, but has been beset by rising costs and routing disputes. A 2022 business plan by the California High-Speed Rail Authority projected the cost had more than tripled to $105 billion.
The Las Vegas strip is shown behind the groundbreaking sight of a high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
CORRECTS TO SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., speaks at the groundbreaking for a high-speed passenger rail on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Kids play in confetti at the groundbreaking ceremony for a high-speed railway on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil) (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks at the groundbreaking for a high-speed passenger rail on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
A plane takes off behind a groundbreaking for a high-speed passenger rail on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., speaks at the groundbreaking for a high-speed passenger rail on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., left, and Sen. Jacky Rosend, D-Nev., right, speak at the groundbreaking for a high-speed passenger rail on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo leaves the stage at a groundbreaking for a high-speed passenger rail on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, center, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, right, drive rail spikes into a symbolic rail, on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. A $12 billion high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area has started construction. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
FILE - This photo taken Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, shows the site of a proposed station for a high-speed rail line to Las Vegas, background, at the end of the Dale Evans Parkway exit from Interstate 15, on the far outskirts of the Mojave Desert city of Victorville, Calif. Brightline West and U.S. transportation secretary and other officials projecting that millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
FILE - This photo Jan. 25, 2012, photo shows the site of a proposed station for a high-speed rail line to Las Vegas, foreground, with Interstate 15 in the background, on the far outskirts of Victorville, Calif., the Mojave Desert city on the route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Brightline West and U.S. transportation secretary and other officials projecting that millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
This Jan. 25, 2012, photo shows the site of a proposed station for the high-speed rail line to Las Vegas at the end of the Dale Evans Parkway exit from Interstate 15, on the far outskirts of the Mojave Desert city of Victorville, Calif. Brightline West and U.S. transportation secretary and other officials projecting that millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
FILE - A Brightline train is shown at a station in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Jan. 11, 2018. A fast-tracked plan to build a high-speed passenger rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area is set to mark the start of construction. Brightline West and U.S. transportation secretary and other officials projecting that millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
