Amtrak stranded passengers

Train 66/26 left over 100 passengers behind because no one was boarded at WASH US.

Amtrak probes claims of train leaving 100 stranded at DC’s Union Station

So was the train FULL with through passengers upon arrival at WUS ?

With the financial inability to repair damaged equipment, Amtrak doesn’t have enough equipment to handle boom times. No worse than an airline having a plane develop mechanical issues and there not being a standby plane ready to replace it.

Wonder if the conductor and ACs late getting on the train for whatever reason?

This was one of the Roanoke trains, apparently massively delayed (enough that it was the ‘last train north’ available for passengers Thursday). I doubt the train would be ‘full’ with passengers by the stop in Alexandria.

The story appears to be that the security gate and ticket checkpoint was never opened, before or during the train dwell time. The thing here is that I would find it incomprehensible that the train 66 crew would leave without boarding passengers at Washington, so perhaps there were some passengers admitted to the platform… enough to allay suspicion that there should have been more… but not everyone.

Since this was said to be the last train north, Amtrak might have had a substantial hotel and taxi bill… probably unrecognized as an act of customer service.

I believe 66 changes power and crew at Washington DC.

To my mind the failure is entirely on the station personnel at Union Station. I suspect they didn’t inform themselves of 66’s real time operating parameters.

From reading the article, that seems to be the case.

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