(WWJ) – Amtrak is offering apologies and vouchers after a disastrous travel experience for many people in Metro Detroit.
Passengers heading to Chicago from Pontiac on Friday thought they were headed to the Windy City for the weekend on a relatively quick train ride. Instead, it turned into a nightmarish ordeal with no electricity, heat, bathrooms or food for nearly an entire day.
The Amtrak train left Pontiac around 6 a.m. Friday and was supposed to arrive in Chicago about 5 ½ hours later. But due to “delay after delay,” the train didn’t arrive at Chicago’s Union Station until after midnight Central Standard Time, according to a report from MLive.
Many passengers decided to flee the train before it even arrived at its destination.
One man told MLive they got on the train around 7:15 a.m. in Ann Arbor, and didn’t even take it all the way to Chicago, opting instead to get off near Gary, Indiana and pay $200 for an Uber ride to their hotel. Their trip lasted 16 hours, according to MLive.
MLive reported the train, Wolverine 351, first stopped about 19 miles west of Ann Arbor, due to a power issue with the engine, according to an Amtrak spokesperson.
The train was then coupled with Wolverine 353, another train that left Pontiac Friday morning, to pull it to Chicago. But the alternate plan didn’t go smoothly either, thanks to a medical emergency that required a two-hour stop, before the passenger who called for medical help continued on the ride.
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After the combined train continued following its second delay, it stopped two more times because of an issue with the brakes and another power issue.
MLive reported one woman opted to get off near Jackson, and then her family picked her up and brought her to Kalamazoo for the night before continuing on to Chicago in the morning.
Others who stayed on the train were stopped outside of Chicago without heat, electricity, and the stench of overflowing toilets that could not be flushed due to the lack of power.
Passengers said they didn’t get updates from Amtrak on what was going on during the delay near Gary. A couple dozen people got off, crossed the tracks to an expressway and called for rideshares into the city, according to MLive.
Amtrak did apologize to passengers and offered transportation vouchers, according to MLive.
“Please accept our most sincerest apologies that your trip on train 351 on October 7, 2022 was severely delayed. Despite our best efforts, there are times when circumstances arise that are out of our control.”
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