LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) — An Amtrak train finally left for New York on Tuesday afternoon after 220 passengers and six crew members were left stranded at Lynchburg’s Kemper Street Station for nearly 30 hours.
The train was headed to New York when it encountered downed power lines and fallen trees on tracks near Nelson County on Monday, Jan. 3. Engineers were forced to stop and return to Kemper Street Station in Lynchburg.
People in Lynchburg decided to step in and help out by getting passengers some of the items they needed, as well as extra food, while waiting for the train to depart on Tuesday, Jan. 4.
Dawn Decker, who lives nearby, became aware of the situation through a Facebook post. She drove to the station to ask passengers what they needed and went to a local supermarket to get it for them.
“People got on the train and asked people what they needed and they came back off and told me and some people came off that needed specific things and I just wrote down a list and took it with me and then picked up other things, snacks, diapers, and formula,” Decker said.
She purchased formula and milk for some babies that were on the train along with medicine for those who needed it, hygiene items, cooked food, and snacks.
Decker also went out of her way to make a second trip for passengers she didn’t get to and ordered pizzas for people on board.
The City of Lynchburg decided to chip in, as well.
Marjette Upshur with the city’s tourism department ordered donuts for passengers and crew from Mama Crockets in Lynchburg.
“This has probably been very trying. Can we do anything for these folks while they’re in Lynchburg? We don’t want anyone to have a negative impression of Lynchburg,” said Upshur.
Some passengers felt that conductors could have communicated more frequently or contacted nearby hotels for a place for passengers to stay.
According to Lavita Booker, who was headed to D.C from Atlanta, “We were thinking, like, ‘okay somebody’s going to come to get us here like maybe they’ll send buses or we’ll go to a hotel,’ but that never happened. We ended up just staying on the train.”
Other passengers made the best of their time while waiting.
“Please keep riding Amtrak because it’s the bomb! Don’t get discouraged ’cause we the bomb!” said Gladys Jones, who was traveling from Atlanta to Philadelphia. “And we had a good time even though the weather stopped us from moving forward but we’re going to move forward anyhow.”
Upshur says she welcomes any passengers to come back and visit Lynchburg.
In addition, Upshur encourages any passengers planning a visit to Lynchburg in the future to call the Office of Economic Authority ahead of time, saying that she would make sure they had a pleasant visit to the city.
