Winter storm leaves passengers stuck on train for 30 hours

An Amtrak train en route to New York from New Orleans was stuck on the track in Virginia for more than 30 hours because of a winter storm.

Amtrak’s Crescent Train 20 first departed from New Orleans on Saturday, Amtrak told The Hill in a statement, before stopping north of Lynchburg, Va., because of ongoing weather conditions.

UPDATE: Crescent Train 20 which departed New Orleans (NOL) on 1/2 is still currently stopped north of Lynchburg (LYH) due to ongoing weather conditions. Once the tracks are clear service will resume en route to New York (NYP).

— Amtrak Alerts (@AmtrakAlerts) January 4, 2022

NBC News 10 reported that the train was stranded for more than 30 hours.

Amtrak issued an update on Twitter early Tuesday morning at around 1:30 a.m. eastern time that said the train is “still currently stopped north of Lynchburg (LYH) due to ongoing weather conditions.” Amtrak said service would resume its trip to New York, the train’s final destination, once the tracks are cleared.

The train left Lynchburg at about 4:15 p.m. eastern time that day en-route to New York, the final destination, according to NBC News 10.

A winter storm that slammed the Southeast triggered the massive delay, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Amtrak on Monday morning said it made temporary service adjustments for service on a number of trains. The company said it had to delay trains because of downed trees and other matters, according to the Journal-Constitution.

The railroad service told The Hill that employees were working to ensure that food and water is available for passengers.

One passenger, Sean Thornton, told the Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that he and others have been told that trees on the tracks are stopping the train from proceeding. He also said the snack bar ran out of food on Monday, and that passengers are not permitted to leave the train.

Updated at 5:09 p.m.