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Amtrak nightmare for passengers
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THELMA GRIMES
News-Sun
Riding the rails may have been different from air or highway travel, but for 40 people who took the train, it turned into a disaster after passengers were stranded in San Antonio last week and in Benson on Monday for a combined 20 hours.
Tyree Johnson, of Minneapolis, Minn., said his immediate and extended family were headed to a family reunion in Sierra Vista and he never imagined the "nightmare" that would consume his so-called vacation.
Finding a group rate for $3,500, Johnson said his family, consisting of 35 people (25 children, seven adults and three elderly), decided to take the Amtrak passenger train, which pulled out of Chicago at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 22, with the final destination set for Benson (1,785 miles) Thursday afternoon.
But as Johnson and his exhausted family explained, the trip never went as planned beginning in San Antonio.
"We were told we were going to be delayed in San Antonio for two hours, then four hours, then six hours, then 10 hours and before we knew, it was 16 hours later," Johnson said. "They left us just sitting in that train and they disconnected all the water and the toilets."
Tyree's mother, Dorothy, said she arranged the trip for her family and never expected "Amtrak to treat us like this."
"This is the worst trip I have ever been on," she said. "They left us on that train in San Antonio with no food, or toilets, they made us urinate on the sidewalk like we were a bunch of puppy dogs."
Being left for such a long period of time without food, Dorothy said the family ended up spending $32 on a cab ride to a Wal-Mart where they spent another $100 to buy food.
The suffering in San Antonio ended up being for nothing, Tyree said, when Amtrak officials said weather caused the delay and ultimately ended up chartering two buses.
The chartered bus dropped the family off at McDonald's on State Route 90 in Benson on Friday evening, more than 24 hours after they were supposed to arrive.
From McDonald's, Johnson said his family in Sierra Vista had to use six vehicles to pick up the family and luggage.
"It was so bad coming up here, I didn't even think it was going to be a problem going home," Johnson told the San Pedro Valley News-Sun on Monday, when his family became stranded again by Amtrak in Benson. "They told us we are going to be delayed three hours (he said around 11 a.m.). This entire vacation has been a nightmare. It's rough on the adults and it's tough on the kids. They are agitated. They keep asking us when are we going to get home, but we don't know."
On Monday, the Amtrak train was scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. departure from Benson. However, nearly 40 people who arrived early to catch the train, ended up waiting more than four hours, outside temperatures hovering at 101 degrees.
Healthcare Innovations, Benson's ambulance provider, was called to the Amtrak station, which is a small metal building no bigger than a tool shed. The building is not equipped with air conditioning or facilities.
Johnson said he had to call the paramedics for his diabetic mother. He said her blood sugar was increasing and his family being from Michigan was having a tough time handling the Arizona heat.
Leatha Falls said she was worried about her three sons in the heat. All three of them ages seven, nine and 10, are asthmatic, she said.
"How can they leave us at a station like this for three hours," Falls said, just after noon. "This is just not right."
Johnson's entire family was relocated to the Benson Visitor's Center/Train Depot for a short time; unit Amtrak officials in Tucson said the train would supposedly be arriving at 12:20 p.m.
With the help of Benson Tourism Director Bob Nilson, the family was again taken down the street to the run-down Amtrak station, where they ended up waiting for the train until after 1 p.m.
Nilson said it's not uncommon for Amtrak trains to be late, noting he's never seen so many people waiting at one time.
Carolyn Harris, a Sierra Vista resident who hosted the family reunion, was very unhappy to see her family members suffer in the heat.
"For them (Amtrak) to tell me there is nothing they can do about this situation is ridiculous," Harris said. "We have people out here getting sick and they say well ma'am we don't know what to tell you. This isn't our fault, this is Amtrak's fault. They try to say they'll give us travel vouchers and food tickets. We don't want that - we want Amtrak to make some changes in the way they do business."
Laquan Johnson, stranded in Benson with his eight kids between the ages of two and 17, was angry.
"I can't understand why this billion dollar company can't seem to treat us better," he said. "They can put us on a bus or put us in a hotel until they finally get the train down here. Instead, they leave us in this heat like they don't care that actual humans are out here."
Dick Rhoads and wife, Aldora, were among those stranded in Benson. The Michigan couple said they took the train from Toledo, Ohio to see their daughter in Huachuca City.
"We were stranded for probably eight-and-a-half hours in San Antonio on Saturday to come up here," Dick said. "We had lights, but no power for the restrooms and we had to sit on the train cars with no air conditioning. I think Amtrak has some communication problems."
Set to return home on Monday, Dick and his wife, who are in their 70s, were again delayed. However, not in the same predicament as Johnson's family.
Sierra Vista resident Mike Moschetti, accompanied by his son, Tony, also arrived in Benson well before the scheduled departure time for a 1,500-mile trip to St. Louis.
Moschetti said they were on the way to see his daughter, Maria Wicke and son-in-law, Scott, who they have not seen in two years.
"At first, we were planning to drive to St. Louis (with a friend), but he had to cancel. So we decided to take the train," Moschetti said.
The two men were smiling and relieved when the train finally pulled into the Amtrak stop at 1:22 p.m. At the end of the four-hour wait for the Amtrak train in Benson, Moschetti managed to retain his sense of humor.
"OK, so we will arrive in St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon instead of Wednesday morning," he said.
Moschetti and his son are scheduled to leave St. Louis on Tuesday, July 6, on the Amtrak train.
Amtrak officials could not be reached for comment.
However, around 5 p.m. Monday afternoon, Tyree Johnson called the San Pedro Valley News-Sun to say they were again delayed in El Paso, Texas.
"Amtrak said there is a problem with the tracks and we are going to be delayed a couple hours," Johnson said. "They said they will bus us to Ft. Worth, where we can catch another train. I don't know if we are ever going to get home."
News-Sun
Riding the rails may have been different from air or highway travel, but for 40 people who took the train, it turned into a disaster after passengers were stranded in San Antonio last week and in Benson on Monday for a combined 20 hours.
Tyree Johnson, of Minneapolis, Minn., said his immediate and extended family were headed to a family reunion in Sierra Vista and he never imagined the "nightmare" that would consume his so-called vacation.
Finding a group rate for $3,500, Johnson said his family, consisting of 35 people (25 children, seven adults and three elderly), decided to take the Amtrak passenger train, which pulled out of Chicago at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 22, with the final destination set for Benson (1,785 miles) Thursday afternoon.
But as Johnson and his exhausted family explained, the trip never went as planned beginning in San Antonio.
"We were told we were going to be delayed in San Antonio for two hours, then four hours, then six hours, then 10 hours and before we knew, it was 16 hours later," Johnson said. "They left us just sitting in that train and they disconnected all the water and the toilets."
Tyree's mother, Dorothy, said she arranged the trip for her family and never expected "Amtrak to treat us like this."
"This is the worst trip I have ever been on," she said. "They left us on that train in San Antonio with no food, or toilets, they made us urinate on the sidewalk like we were a bunch of puppy dogs."
Being left for such a long period of time without food, Dorothy said the family ended up spending $32 on a cab ride to a Wal-Mart where they spent another $100 to buy food.
The suffering in San Antonio ended up being for nothing, Tyree said, when Amtrak officials said weather caused the delay and ultimately ended up chartering two buses.
The chartered bus dropped the family off at McDonald's on State Route 90 in Benson on Friday evening, more than 24 hours after they were supposed to arrive.
From McDonald's, Johnson said his family in Sierra Vista had to use six vehicles to pick up the family and luggage.
"It was so bad coming up here, I didn't even think it was going to be a problem going home," Johnson told the San Pedro Valley News-Sun on Monday, when his family became stranded again by Amtrak in Benson. "They told us we are going to be delayed three hours (he said around 11 a.m.). This entire vacation has been a nightmare. It's rough on the adults and it's tough on the kids. They are agitated. They keep asking us when are we going to get home, but we don't know."
On Monday, the Amtrak train was scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. departure from Benson. However, nearly 40 people who arrived early to catch the train, ended up waiting more than four hours, outside temperatures hovering at 101 degrees.
Healthcare Innovations, Benson's ambulance provider, was called to the Amtrak station, which is a small metal building no bigger than a tool shed. The building is not equipped with air conditioning or facilities.
Johnson said he had to call the paramedics for his diabetic mother. He said her blood sugar was increasing and his family being from Michigan was having a tough time handling the Arizona heat.
Leatha Falls said she was worried about her three sons in the heat. All three of them ages seven, nine and 10, are asthmatic, she said.
"How can they leave us at a station like this for three hours," Falls said, just after noon. "This is just not right."
Johnson's entire family was relocated to the Benson Visitor's Center/Train Depot for a short time; unit Amtrak officials in Tucson said the train would supposedly be arriving at 12:20 p.m.
With the help of Benson Tourism Director Bob Nilson, the family was again taken down the street to the run-down Amtrak station, where they ended up waiting for the train until after 1 p.m.
Nilson said it's not uncommon for Amtrak trains to be late, noting he's never seen so many people waiting at one time.
Carolyn Harris, a Sierra Vista resident who hosted the family reunion, was very unhappy to see her family members suffer in the heat.
"For them (Amtrak) to tell me there is nothing they can do about this situation is ridiculous," Harris said. "We have people out here getting sick and they say well ma'am we don't know what to tell you. This isn't our fault, this is Amtrak's fault. They try to say they'll give us travel vouchers and food tickets. We don't want that - we want Amtrak to make some changes in the way they do business."
Laquan Johnson, stranded in Benson with his eight kids between the ages of two and 17, was angry.
"I can't understand why this billion dollar company can't seem to treat us better," he said. "They can put us on a bus or put us in a hotel until they finally get the train down here. Instead, they leave us in this heat like they don't care that actual humans are out here."
Dick Rhoads and wife, Aldora, were among those stranded in Benson. The Michigan couple said they took the train from Toledo, Ohio to see their daughter in Huachuca City.
"We were stranded for probably eight-and-a-half hours in San Antonio on Saturday to come up here," Dick said. "We had lights, but no power for the restrooms and we had to sit on the train cars with no air conditioning. I think Amtrak has some communication problems."
Set to return home on Monday, Dick and his wife, who are in their 70s, were again delayed. However, not in the same predicament as Johnson's family.
Sierra Vista resident Mike Moschetti, accompanied by his son, Tony, also arrived in Benson well before the scheduled departure time for a 1,500-mile trip to St. Louis.
Moschetti said they were on the way to see his daughter, Maria Wicke and son-in-law, Scott, who they have not seen in two years.
"At first, we were planning to drive to St. Louis (with a friend), but he had to cancel. So we decided to take the train," Moschetti said.
The two men were smiling and relieved when the train finally pulled into the Amtrak stop at 1:22 p.m. At the end of the four-hour wait for the Amtrak train in Benson, Moschetti managed to retain his sense of humor.
"OK, so we will arrive in St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon instead of Wednesday morning," he said.
Moschetti and his son are scheduled to leave St. Louis on Tuesday, July 6, on the Amtrak train.
Amtrak officials could not be reached for comment.
However, around 5 p.m. Monday afternoon, Tyree Johnson called the San Pedro Valley News-Sun to say they were again delayed in El Paso, Texas.
"Amtrak said there is a problem with the tracks and we are going to be delayed a couple hours," Johnson said. "They said they will bus us to Ft. Worth, where we can catch another train. I don't know if we are ever going to get home."
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