MISTAKES ON A TRAIN

Travel Nightmare for Hundreds Caught in 24-Hour Amtrak Stoppage: Report

As the minutes turned to hours, frightened passengers even tried calling the police and reporting that they’d been taken hostage.

Hundreds of travelers departing from northern Virginia were caught in a nightmare Monday evening when their Amtrak train stopped abruptly in rural South Carolina—and then never started moving again. More than 24 hours later, frightened passengers even tried calling police and reporting that they’d been taken hostage, according to ABC News—a misnomer that conductors on board tried quickly to correct. “For those of you that are calling the police, we are not holding you hostage,” an Amtrak employee can be heard saying on the loudspeaker in a social media video. “We are giving you all the information in which we have. We are sorry about the inconvenience.” The situation started Monday night when a freight train just a few miles ahead of the Amtrak Auto Train hit a car and derailed, causing the initial stoppage. Shortly after, the specialized Amtrak crew timed out and a new crew had trouble reaching the location. “Tuesday’s southbound Amtrak Auto Train has been impacted by significant delays due to a CSX freight derailment in South Carolina,” Amtrak said in a statement. “Customers have been provided meals, snack packs and beverages.” Passengers reported to ABC7 in Washington, D.C. just before midnight Eastern Time that the train had begun moving again.