After about 36 hours stranded due to fallen trees and heavy snow, an Amtrak train travelling from Seattle and bound for Los Angeles is finally moving again. The Coast Starlight train was near Eugene, Oregon when it hit a tree on Sunday night.
According to an Amtrak spokesperson 183 passengers were aboard the train throughout the ordeal. 30 hours in one of those passengers, Rebekah Dodson, described being stranded on the train as "hell and getting worse."
But according to a spokesperson for Union Pacific, which owns the actual rail lines, keeping passengers on the train for a day and a half was a better solution than letting them off. Union Pacific spokesman Tim McMahan said that decision was made because of many power outages nearby and the fact that train still had power. Amtrak COO Scot Naparstek said in a statement that they were able to provide stranded passengers with with heat, electricity, toilets and food.
Passenger Emilie Wyrick shared some of that food with CNN. Breakfast included: pretzels, cookies, coffee and club soda.
Overnight, crews from Union Pacific worked to clear the tracks and a Union Pacific locomotive began slowly pulling the train back towards Eugene a little after seven o'clock this morning. A tweet from Amtrak said the train would return to Seattle with additional delays along the route.
