Passenger Trains > Silver Meteor stuck in SC for 15 hours

JASPER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Dozens of passengers were stuck on an Amtrak train for over 15 hours in Jasper County as Helene’s winds brought trees down, blocking the train tracks.

Amtrak train #98 was stuck in Ridgeland, S.C. on the tracks near West Frontage Road and Taylor Mill Road.

The train’s route begins in Miami, FL and ends in New York, NY with many stops along the way. One passenger, Brandi Phillips, got on the train at a Savannah, GA station around 10 p.m. Thursday.

Around an hour later, the train suddenly stopped.

“We were told we had to stop because there was a tree that was in the train tracks and we couldn’t move. They (Amtrak) had sent us a mass text saying that crew members would be here in 60 minutes to get everything cleared away, and we would be back and rolling,” Phillips said. “60 minutes turned into 15 hours.”

When trying to get answers, passengers said communication was limited from crew on the train and when they tried to get a hold of customer service…

“We have been getting rude remarks from their customer service agents telling us it’s our fault, that we shouldn’t have been traveling during a storm, that we knew about the storm and that basically we should have had alternate routes to take,” Phillips said.

Over the next 15 hours, Phillips said passengers were only offered a complimentary beef stew and a bottle of water. If they wanted anything else, more snacks and beverages were available for purchase.

“There’s elderly people on here; there’s children, and this train is like 50 degrees. It is freezing cold,” she added.

The only way passengers were allowed off was if they had a ride coming to pick them up.

“Of course, a lot of people don’t have rides, because we wouldn’t be on the train if we did,” Phillips said. “It’s just been a very frustrating experience for a lot of us.”

Around 2:30 p.m., the passengers were finally allowed off the train as buses were organized to take the riders to their designated locations. This was around 15 hours after they were stopped in one spot.

“We’ve been trying to keep our composure. I can tell you that a lot of us have done a very good job, but again, this was just unnecessary,” Phillips said. “I feel like there have been other steps that they should have taken in order to get us and accommodate us a little bit better.”

Amtrak was contacted for a statement or details on the situation, but has yet to respond.

https://www.live5news.com/2024/09/27/amtrak-passengers-stuck-train-over-15-hours-helene-damage/

This is crazy. It's not like there was a hurricane or anything ...

Two to three years ago I was on a Meteor that struck a tree.  We ended up trading locomotives to put the trailing unit up front due to a damanged horn.  That took an hour or so.  Then we got up to speed, went into emergency 2 minutes later, due to another tree strike.  This one was bad, and the engineer (who i spoke with on board as he deadheaded to Richmond) hit the deck to avoid injury.  We lost a lot of time there, and a CSX locomotive rescued us.  

My point is that this happens, and given the nature of the storm in the SE, it could have been longer.  ​As for the comment that it was 50 degrees on board...how can that be when it was in the 60s and 70s outside?  Yea, they had to wait 15 hours, which sucks.  My mom and dad and other family are without power in Georgia, and it will be days before they get it back, not just 15 hours.  Must be their fault for living in an area where it storms.  

But we need to keep things in perspective.  A fair number of people died, many are without power for days, and damage was widespread.  But these folks were delayed 15 hours.  The horror.

 

Ha!  I was just chatting with my spouse about it.  The response?  "Well, people knew there was a hurricane coming.  Maybe they should have rebooked, instead."

I told him to send his resume to Amtrak Customer Service.

Delay bc of the hurricane is one thing, but lack of communication  is inexcusable, and amtrak arrogance that. IMHO, comes from the top down.
Also, as an airline captain, whenever we had a sustantial delay, I told the F/A's to give away the food and booze to the passengers, and I signed paperwork to that affect.  The company had official guidelines for doing this, which I paid no attention to. and never got called into any office for keeping the passengers happy, EVER. 
IMHO, there is no excuse for the conductor and Amtk not doing the same.  Caring more about ones bonus money, than keeping the customer happy and informed, is just the usual sign of incredible mis-management, as we all know has been going on for years.

And actually, considering Amtraks usual "cancel at the drop of a hat attitute" about their service, Im was surprised twhen I heard that the Meteor was not cancelled south of Richmond.   a state of emergency had been declared in all of South Carolina and georgia ahead of the storm.  Maybe Amtk didnt get the memo.   If you are going to run a company, u better be able to make correct decisions 90% of the time, not 50% of the time.

 

 

Unlike a customer-focused  airline, Amtrak would always write up a diner crew if they couldn't account for one egg missing. 15 hour stranding is not the time and place to be concerned with the food service deficit. They probably have to dump a lot of cafe and diner food as it would expire by the time that train got to any facility.  

This falls under the category of "not out fault" so "we don't owe you an explanation". 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/24 06:41 by joemvcnj.

Yet another example why CSX NS etc will often pre-emptively cancel Amtrak in the face of severe conditions.

Posted from Android

I wonder what happened to #97 (26) that was combined with #91 (26) at Selma NC.
It's still shown sitting in Florence SC on Transitdocs.com, actually it is sitting south of
Florence at 8:25am this morning (28). 

Amtrak alert via dixielandsoftware.net:

09/27/24 3:20pm EDT
_ As of 3:16 PM ET Service Adjustment: Due to inclement weather
_ conditions incurred from Hurricane Helene Train 91 and Train
_ 97 has terminated. We apologize for any inconvenience this
_ may cause.

AMtrak is so quick to "cancel" trains, I was surprised that they operated these trains!

Chessie1963 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Two to three years ago I was on a Meteor that
> struck a tree.  We ended up trading locomotives
> to put the trailing unit up front due to a
> damanged horn.  That took an hour or so.  Then
> we got up to speed, went into emergency 2 minutes
> later, due to another tree strike.  This one was
> bad, and the engineer (who i spoke with on board
> as he deadheaded to Richmond) hit the deck to
> avoid injury.  We lost a lot of time there, and a
> CSX locomotive rescued us.  
>
> My point is that this happens, and given the
> nature of the storm in the SE, it could have been
> longer.  ​As for the comment that it was 50
> degrees on board...how can that be when it was in
> the 60s and 70s outside?  Yea, they had to wait
> 15 hours, which sucks.  My mom and dad and other
> family are without power in Georgia, and it will
> be days before they get it back, not just 15
> hours.  Must be their fault for living in an area
> where it storms.  
>
> But we need to keep things in perspective.  A
> fair number of people died, many are without power
> for days, and damage was widespread.  But these
> folks were delayed 15 hours.  The horror.
>
>  

This was reported:  "The only way passengers were allowed off was if they had a ride coming to pick them up." 

If that's the case, if someone had a better idea of getting to where they we're going, and Amtrak restrained them from leaving the train, I suspect all hell is going to break loose via legions of lawyers.  That's simply rediculous. Patience is certainly a virtue, but 15 hours and no action by Amtrak is a bit of a stretch.  Given the company's recent inattention to any sort of unusual circumstance, there were probably more than a few ion board who decided they must fend for themselves.
 

a737flyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This was reported:  "The only way passengers were
> allowed off was if they had a ride coming to pick
> them up." 
>
> If that's the case, if someone had a better idea
> of getting to where they we're going, and Amtrak
> restrained them from leaving the train, I suspect
> all hell is going to break loose via legions of
> lawyers.  That's simply rediculous. Patience is
> certainly a virtue, but 15 hours and no action by
> Amtrak is a bit of a stretch.  Given the
> company's recent inattention to any sort of
> unusual circumstance, there were probably more
> than a few ion board who decided they must fend
> for themselves.
>  

If they allowed them to leave the "safe" train to go out in to the "dangerous weather" the accident lawyers would have a feeding frenzy. For Amtrak it's a no win situation.
 

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If they allowed them to leave the "safe" train to
> go out in to the "dangerous weather" the accident
> lawyers would have a feeding frenzy. For Amtrak
> it's a no win situation.
 
Yeah, but no Amtrak OBP is going to stop me from leaving a train if I really want to, ride or not. Simple as that...

JG

DutchDragon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is crazy. It's not like there was a hurricane
> or anything ...

I don’t know what Amtrak could’ve done much better here considering what was going on. And if they canceled the train, then all the people on here would be screaming about how they canceled trains at the drop of the hat. Even Indianapolis got a lot of damage from the storm yesterday.

Posted from iPhone

a737flyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This was reported:  "The only way passengers were
> allowed off was if they had a ride coming to pick
> them up." 
>
> If that's the case, if someone had a better idea
> of getting to where they we're going, and Amtrak
> restrained them from leaving the train, I suspect
> all hell is going to break loose via legions of
> lawyers.  That's simply rediculous. Patience is
> certainly a virtue, but 15 hours and no action by
> Amtrak is a bit of a stretch.  Given the
> company's recent inattention to any sort of
> unusual circumstance, there were probably more
> than a few ion board who decided they must fend
> for themselves.
>  
Well it’s easy to point fingers, but how do you think they could just round up a bunch of charter buses on a moments notice while a hurricane is going on and trees are down all over the place!? in hindsight, they should’ve canceled the train before it got to that area and then y’all would be complaining about that.

Posted from iPhone

What u do is PLAN AHEAD, and have busses contracted to be available.   Yes it costs money to do that, but thats what u do if you are running a transportation company.   
Anyone who thinks you can run a business by being totally reactive to everything, has never successfully run a business.   

At the airline....when we saw weather coming, we would call hotels ahead of time and have them hold rooms for us.

Having ppl on a train for 15 hours, with a surly crew that doesnt try to help the customers, and a surly company behind them, does NOT come under the "well, these things happen" category.    I cant imagine what kind of ppl here think this is in any way OK.  

Airlines land at airports. You always know where the passengers are and will be -- either in the air, or at an airport. Most large airports have multiple hotels within 15 minutes. I'm a retired frequent flyer and I could tell you lots of stories about how airlines screw up when things go south. 
Railroads run through small town America. Both the track and the roads that run along side them are prone to closure from fallen trees, washouts, etc. That said, Amtrak could and should have done better in this instance. 

Was this train stopped near any services, or a specific town? Sorry if this was answered already. If Amtrak had an opportunity to reverse the train to the nearest local town, that should be protocol, in general. I'm not saying to backup to the last station stop, but some sort of "option." 

Why did it take CSX 15 hours to remove a tree?
MOW crew unable to access location? So, now
Amtrak blames the victims "for being stupid enough
to ride and you should have known better?"

Ayn Rand was right back in 1957:  A Soviet-style railroad.

CPMorris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why did it take CSX 15 hours to remove a tree?

It was more that one.