Amtrak: 13-hour delay on stalled train ‘rare’

{mosads}The train in question was traveling from New York City to Miami when it became stuck near Richmond, Va., on Sunday.

Passengers were not removed from the train, which was held in place for more than 13 hours. 

Several people who were on board the train complained about being held in place to local media outlets in Virginia.

“I don’t need apologies,” Virginia resident Kevin Smith told Richmond television station WTVR. “All I needed was to continue on my journey and be let off the train.”

The defense of the Virginia incident comes as Amtrak announced on Tuesday that it had broken a ridership record for the month of June.

The company said more people rode its trains in June 2013 than any previous June in its 42 years of existence.

Amtrak said June was second consecutive month it set a new ridership record. The company said it has also set new records in four other months in the 2013 fiscal year: October and December 2012 and January and March 2013.

Amtrak said its forecasts for ticket sales show it will likely be able to break its annual record of 31.2 million riders, which was set last year.