Amtrak train heading to Orlando from DC was delayed over 20 hours in South Carolina, prompting the crew to ensure passengers that they were not being held hostage
Passengers traveling on an Amtrak Auto Train from Washington D.C. to Orlando, Florida on what was supposed to be a 17-hour train ride ended up being stuck on the train in the middle of South Carolina causing the trip to take 37 hours, with the crew ensuring the passengers that they were not being held hostage.
Amtrak Crew tells Passengers they are not Hostages
The train had 563 passengers and 333 vehicles on board and was forced to detour off its normal route due to the derailment of a CSX freight Monday night. That caused the train to stop in Denmark, South Carolina while waiting for a new crew to arrive.
What a nightmare.
- 37+ Hours Total
- 20+ Hour Delay on an Amtrak Train that’s not moving.
- A train crew that wasn’t legally allowed to operate the train.
- No replacement crew
Amtrak stated they offered “snacks” to passengers but apparently by midnight, all the food was gone. Pets on the plan weren’t allowed out to use the bathroom. Outside of telling passengers that they weren’t hostages, there were very little updates as to when rescue teams would arrive to move the train.
I mean what in the fuck is that about?
To make matters worse, the conductor, who apparently wasn’t legally allowed to drive the train anymore, was telling everyone to not open their windows or smoke on the train.
I’m sorry but if you can’t legally operate the train anymore then all things considered, no one has to listen to you or any other member of the crew anymore.
I’m still unclear as to why the crew wasn’t legally allowed to operate the train any longer once they had to detour to a new route but one thing is for sure, if the only reason was some shitty red tape laws saying they had no jurisdiction to ride on those rails and their solution was to just park and wait for 20+ hours until someone who was legal arrived, that was the wrong game plan.
Credit to these passengers (I guess) for just sitting around waiting and following directions like good little sheep. There’s no way in hell I would have just sat there patiently. After a few hours, I’m at the very least ripping a heater and take a few laps around the train outside. If there’s an issue with me doing that from, ya know, the crew that can’t operate the train and has no power, then I’m busting open the window or emergency exit and just leaving.
In no situation am I sitting on the train waiting for help to arrive. Period. And for those saying that’s not a good idea because you’re in the middle of nowhere South Carolina, that’s bullshit. I’ve seen signs for Denmark, South Carolina off i95 on my way down to Hilton Head. There’s enough around there to be in a town within a few hours.
The red marker is Denmark, SC
Could you imagine being on a train that’s delayed for 20+ hours and not moving, running out of food, while a bunch of non-crew crew members tell you what you can and can’t do because they fucked up?
No chance in hell.
Back to the map above. What took the backup crew so long to get there? Again, it’s not that far off the beaten path. This entire story is super fucking weird but then again, people who are riding Amtrak from DC to Orlando probably are too, so maybe it all makes sense.
This will be no good for the high-speed railway agenda either. Not that we were ever going to get those in America anyways thanks to oil and automotive lobbyists in DC making sure everyone sticks to cars or whatever version of the “green new deal” that’s rolled out to save us from “climate change”.
And yes, when people bitch about “climate change” being written in quotes, do yourself a favor and ask yourself why don’t we have high-speed rails and why celebrities and politicians are flying private jets everywhere while building multi-million dollar mansions on $400K salaries right on the coastlines of this country while they tell us peasants that we are the bad ones for driving jeeps and trucks because we are destroying the earth.
Maybe then you’ll realize they are all full of shit, just like Amtrak.
Join The Chase, Baby.
