Winter storms in Northeast have Amtrak passengers stranded, and frustrated, in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A brutal storm that struck much of the Northeast over the holiday weekend led to another day of mass-cancellations and delays for travelers in Chicago Monday.
As CBS 2's Lauren Victory reported Monday, many who booked a train trip via Amtrak instead ended up on a bus – stranded and stressed.
Some Amtrak passengers even had to spend their Christmas in Union Station. They said things were looking up on Christmas Day – until their train got canceled yet again.
It felt like Groundhog Day as for the second night Christmas Day night, Amtrak put up the stranded travelers in a hotel and then loaded them and their luggage onto a shuttle bus the next morning.
Once again, passengers got off the shuttle buses at Union Station – hoping to get out of Chicago. But get out of Chicago they did not.
"We've been here since the 24th," said LaTonya Moyer. "We were supposed to be home on Christmas Day."
Instead, Moyer will look back on a Christmas holiday that was spent waiting and waiting.
"On Christmas, we were here from 11 a.m. until 2 a.m.," Moyer said. "They canceled our train at 1:35 a.m."
"We've been stuck here for almost three days," added Polina Ryabova. "Some people have been here six days now."
Ryabova took video Monday afternoon of a long line of passengers looking for answers about their departures.
Amtrak told us severe weather halted the Capitol Limited train – which connects Chicago and Washington, D.C. – from Dec. 22 until Dec. 24.
Equipment issues caused problems for the line on Dec. 25.
"One person says one thing. A different says another. They say no information," Ryabova said. "We had to find out everything from the internet."
Ryabova is originally from Russia, and her whole family had flown in from Moscow to see her.
"I missed the whole Christmas," she said. "My whole family flew in to see me in New York."
The travelers hope frustrating alerts that announce train cancellations are over – especially since the weather is clear in Chicago.
The travelers' patience is gone.
"I have very little confidence that we will leave today, after they've already told 20 other people that the train is canceled," said Moyer.
Another issue passengers fear is that Amtrak is showing trains to D.C. are sold out until Wednesday.
We asked Amtrak about that and were told stranded travelers "will be accommodated on other trains." But they did not say when.
