Senators Continue Inquiry into Amtrak Service Disruptions

A group of four Democratic Senators wrote to Amtrak this week to express concern over a recent 20-hour delay to a northbound Auto Train, inquiring into the policies the railroad has in place to accommodate passengers in cases of extreme service disruptions.

“We are extremely troubled by descriptions of Amtrak passengers’ experiences on the Auto Train last week,” wrote Senators Richard Blumenthal (CT), Maria Cantwell (WA), Ben Cardin (MD), and Edward Markey (MA). “These stories fit an alarming pattern of ill-preparedness in Amtrak’s response to extended train delays. We write to inquire about Amtrak’s policies and procedures to provide adequate care and provisions to passengers in the event of unexpected, sustained delays.”

The letter acknowledges the source of the disruption (a CSX derailment) was outside of Amtrak’s control, but goes on to state that “it is difficult to imagine a sufficient justification for the distressing conditions passengers described experiencing.”

The letter posed several questions to Amtrak leadership, including the current status of Amtrak’s passenger care policies and procedures in the event of sustained and unexpected delays; whether these policies were revisited after last year’s extreme Auto Train delay in January 2022; whether any policy changes will be implemented following last week’s incident; whether Amtrak gives passengers the opportunity to disembark the train and arrange alternate methods of transportation during delays near stations; and the status of fare refunds to each customer, including refunds for any “upgrades, vehicles, pets, or other comparable fees paid for by a passenger.”

However, in evaluating Amtrak workers’ actions last week, it’s worth comparing Amtrak’s response to this Auto Train incident with how Amtrak personnel treated passengers during a similar delay in Michigan in October 2022. Jim Mathews, President & CEO of Rail Passengers Association, analyzed the different responses to the two service disruptions last week:

Let me say it up front: in the case of Monday evening’s AutoTrain departure from Lorton, VA, headed south to Sanford, FL, Amtrak did everything they could to take care of passengers. They did it right. Panicked passengers calling 9-1-1, claiming they were being held hostage, complaining that they weren’t being fed, and even popping open windows to try to leave, was an unnecessary overreaction.

Unlike the hapless Wolverine passengers this past Fall, these AutoTrain passengers had heat, power, food, water, and working toilets throughout this incident. They were stopped at a small station in Denmark, SC, for about seven hours while the train waited for a new crew to replace the staff who had run out of service hours, which means any genuine medical emergencies (had there been any) could have been addressed safely. Extra food was put on, with pizza brought on board in Savannah, GA, and more breakfast food put on the train in Jacksonville, FL. Crews handed out snack packs, too.

Amtrak can’t be held responsible when a Class I freight railroad experiences a serious derailment. Moreover, all of the things that I raised with FRA Administrator Amit Bose during the Wolverine meltdown were addressed correctly during this latest incident. Crews and dispatchers did not dither, and instead they took decisive action, detouring from CSX’s “A” line to the “S” line through Raleigh, NC, and Columbia, SC. When it became clear that this was going to be a very long delay, managers made another smart decision and terminated the Silver service train following behind, and established a bus bridge. Power and essential on-board services for passengers were maintained.

Rail Passengers initiated an inquiry into Amtrak's handling of the January 2022 Auto Train incident when many of our members were trapped onboard during a winter storm. We'll continue to work with the Congress on ensuring that passengers have rights in these sorts of disruptions.

We're also encouraging passengers to take our service-quality survey to give us a better understanding of the state of the network in 2023.

Take Our Service-Quality Survey!