More than 100 passengers trapped for 7 hours on stalled Amtrak train in Queens

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Monday, February 14, 2022

More than 100 trapped for 7 hours on stalled Amtrak train in Queens

An Amtrak Acela train was stopped in Queens for hours on Monday before passengers were safely taken to NYC. N.J. Burkett has the latest on this story.

HUNTERS POINT, Queens (WABC) -- Passengers were trapped for seven hours on a stalled Amtrak Acela train that lost power in Queens.

Train 2151 traveling from Boston to Washington, D.C., had been stopped in Hunters Point since 8:37 a.m. due to a power loss on the train.

The train was supposed to arrive at Penn Station around 8:45 a.m.

It finally started moving again around 3:20 p.m. and arrived at Moynihan Train Station a short time later.

Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries to any of the 106 passengers or crew members onboard.

According to Amtrak and a customer onboard, the power was on and off throughout the day, but there were ambient temperatures onboard.

The lights also stayed on and the heat didn't go out, but it was an ordeal for dozens of people who spent the entire day going nowhere.

Amtrak said that water and snacks were available and provided to help keep people comfortable during the wait.

A biotech consultant who was on the train described the conditions onboard:

"Coming down from Connecticut on my way to Philadelphia, the train lost connection with the overhead wires and they couldn't figure out how to get it back online, so now they can't release the brakes on the locomotives so we're stuck," Mike Kornstein said during an interview while the train was still stranded.

Kornstein said overall, people were relatively calm. While some passengers were annoyed, no one appeared to be freaking out.

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