As many as 106 passengers were stuck on an Amtrak train between Boston and Washington, DC for almost seven hours after suffering a power failure in New York.
The train departed Boston at 5.05am, and got stuck in Hunters Point in the Queens borough of New York City at 8.37am, “due to a power loss of the train,” according to Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams.
One of the passengers, Sari Brown, was unconcerned when the train first stopped in Queens.
“Then when it didn’t move again, I realized something was wrong,” the 65-year-old said. She was travelling to New York City from Boston for work.
She added that passengers weren’t kept informed as the hours went by. Despite seeing more Amtrak workers on the scene, “no one could fix the train,” she said.
The train was on the move again almost seven hours later at 3.20pm after a rescue engine arrived to move it into Moynihan Train Hall in Manhattan, Mr Abrams said.
Ms Brown said when it did start moving again, there was a smell of smoke that made the last stretch of the journey scary. It was “not a good situation, shame on Amtrak,” she said.
Mr Abrams said added that passengers continuing to Washington would get off in New York and take another train to their end stop.
There were no reports of injuries to the 106 passengers and crew members, Mr Abrams said, adding that water and snacks were provided while the train was stalled.
Shortly before 12pm, Rebecca Velez Frey tweeted: “My first time back on Amtrak and heading to first conference since 2019, of course we have been broken down on tracks for more than three hours with no end in sight. Apparently the universe does not want me to enjoy the outside world yet.”
“Passengers have been calm and good humored, Amtrak personnel working as hard as they can,” Paul Cohen added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
