Amtrak passengers trapped on 37-hour trip called 911 worried they were kidnapped
Ryan King
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Passengers trapped on an Amtrak train for over 37 hours made frantic calls to the police after a freight train snafu upended their route and caused a massive delay.
Several of the 563 passengers made 911 calls alleging they were being kidnapped. The calls came after people were informed they couldn’t exit, open their windows, smoke, or let their pets outside during what one passenger dubbed the “train from hell.” The train was traveling from Lorton, Virginia, to Sanford, Florida, a trip that was initially supposed to last 17 hours, according to the Daily Mail.
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“Well, my five-week planned vacation to [Florida] has gotten off to a rousing start. Me and 350 of my closest vacationer friends are sitting on the Amtrak Auto Train from hell,” Jim Snyder, who was en route to Florida, wrote on Facebook.
A CSX freight train that derailed Monday in Lake City after colliding with an unoccupied vehicle at about 11 p.m. local time Monday forced the Amtrak passenger train to reroute. No injuries were reported in the accident.
Bathrooms aboard the Amtrak train reportedly became odious, and food later ran out. Eventually, a conductor used the loudspeaker to tell passengers not to call the police.
“Once again, for those of you that are calling the police, we are not holding you hostage. We are giving you all the information in which we have and we are sorry about the inconvenience,” he said, according to ABC News.
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At one point, the train reportedly made a pit stop in Savannah, Georgia, for a pizza delivery.
Delays during the 37-hour trip were exacerbated when crews maxed out their work time and additional staff were brought on. The train pulled into its Sanford, Florida, station at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, according to ABC.
“Everyone was so tired and irritable by the time we finally made it to our destination but thank heavens we made it,” passenger Melanie Simms wrote on Facebook.
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Customers took to social media and vowed to demand refunds from Amtrak.
News of the Amtrak debacle comes as airline company Southwest has come under scrutiny for delays around the Christmas travel season. On Wednesday, a Federal Aviation Administration mass outage caused hundreds of flight delays.
The Washington Examiner has contacted Amtrak for comment.