Posted on 01/11/2023 7:10:32 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
Passengers on an Amtrak train were stranded in South Carolina after their train took a detour due to another train derailing.
Some passengers fresh out of patience appeared to have started calling the police, per ABC News.
A train conductor was heard telling passengers they weren't being held hostage, per videos seen by ABC News.
An Amtrak trip from Virginia to Orlando turned into a nightmare this week after passengers were kept on board the train for more than 29 hours.
ABC News reported that the Auto Train in question left Virginia at 5 p.m. on Monday, and was meant to reach Florida by 10 a.m. on Tuesday. However, the Amtrak train was taken off its normal route after a CSX freight train collided with a vehicle on the tracks during the South Carolina leg of the journey — resulting in the Amtrak Auto Train needing to be diverted off-course, reported ABC News.
This was just the beginning of the mess: the Amtrak passenger train's journey was then halted in South Carolina. Passengers had to wait for a certified backup crew to arrive because there are specific crews who can operate Auto Trains, per ABC News. Additionally, safety laws control how many hours train employees are allowed to work.
Some passengers who were out of patience with Amtrak after being delayed for hours also appeared to have started calling the police, ABC News reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Some passengers who were out of patience with Amtrak after being delayed for hours also appeared to have started calling the police, ABC News reported.
Better: Passengers eventually called the police, ABC News reported.
“I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.”...............
Ain’t Communism wonderful.
I went from Orlando to Washington for President Reagan's funeral, but it was 12 hours late and I missed the funeral. And they don't provide free snacks and meals for those hours either. I'm not a fan of Amtrak.
Last time I was on amtrak was 1975. An overnight trip to D.C.........It sucked back then and obviously it hasn’t improved.
Dagny Taggart wouldn’t allow Amtrak on her lines.
Hot food is not being served and toilets won't flush... passengers want to leave the train to get some fresh air. They feel they're being held hostage and the conductor - the representative of Amtrak? He pretends the passenger's complaint is, 'are we getting all the information YOU have"? OMG - there are fools running everything now - did the conductor get his job based on sexual kink, color and political position? Same can be asked about the ABC Reporter...
Federal Hours of Service law, not union rules. The article even made specific note of this.
Government run trains
What do you expect?
its why passenger rail is almost non-existent in the USA.
Or if it was written by PG Wodehouse:
"Some rummy chaps were so barmy from being held incommunicado, they called for Sargeant Valois."
Remember, it was a conservative Republican, Richard Nixon, who created Amtrak.
I took the car train several times for trips to Disney years ago. We rented an overnight cabin. Drank wine and watched movies. The dining car menu was good. It was fun. The cost was about the same as flying and renting a car though.
Is that how you define "conservative Republican?"
I caught a flight on Peoples Express from Syracuse to Miami right after Christmas in 1984. We were having a massive snowstorm and all flights were grounded. We boarded at 10am and the flight finally left around noon and landed in Newark at 1 PM. Newark was snowed in as well and we were forced to sit on the taxiway until 9PM when we got to the gate. The crew would not let us deplane and get something to eat or drink. Finally, about 10 I told them I was getting off. They only let 2 of us off for 15 minutes, with the other being the Head wrestling coach of Ithaca College who had to call the wrestling tournament officials that the team was participating in.
We finally took off at midnight and arrived in Miami at 3 AM. We all definitely felt like hostages.
The express train goes through the Japan Alps and is very scenic as well, but it was a little foggy that morning and the train was a whole, whopping THREE minutes late in arriving to Nagoya. So the conductor is on the PA and profusely apologizes to all the passengers because there is a safety protocol in place not to run the train faster than the visibility allows. I was mostly amused because trains leave Nagoya every few minutes even on the local lines.
The worst thing that could've happened is that someone might have waited 15 minutes or so for the less frequent trains, more likely 3 to 6 minutes.
Amtrak would have cost as much as the plane trip, and taken as long as the Greyhound. I ended up driving.
I looked up the same trip: travel is now out of Mobile, AL, with a 58-HOUR journey. If I ever decide to visit NYC, I may take a trip from DC on Amtrak, but that's about it.
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I imagine that somewhere in the fine print they agreed to everything that’s happening. If they feel like hostages, tough toenails.
I traveled extensively on trains in Europe, particularly Germany, in the early ‘70’s. Even in Communist countries the trains were always on time.
A long time ago I was on a train that got stopped in the desert by a disabled freight. The conductor said we could get out and walk around if we wanted. Fun. I still have the pictures.
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