(The following story by Martin Weil appeared on the Washington Post website on February 14, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hundreds of Amtrak passengers were stranded in Fairfax County for hours Saturday after one train broke down and an effort to bring a second train to its aid proved unavailing. The effort left both trains stalled on the tracks, and snow apparently contributed to the passengers’ long wait.
Train 195, en route from Washington to Richmond with 111 people on board, halted north of Lorton on Saturday when its locomotive failed, said Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero. To help, she said, train 92, that was headed north toward Washington, with 239 people, was halted near the stricken southbound train. One of the two locomotives from the northbound train was coupled to the southbound train, to try to get it going.
But, said Romero, it didn’t work.
Meanwhile, the number of work hours permitted for train 92’s crew had expired, she said. That made it necessary to wait for a new crew.
Finally, she said, train 99 was pulled into place behind the stalled southbound train. It was planned to couple the two trains together and have train 99 to push 195 to Richmond.
As of late Saturday night, Romero said, train 195 was six hours late, and train 92, which originated in Florida, was five hours and 35 minutes late. A passenger said 92 arrived at Union Station about 10:45 p.m.
Snow apparently stretched out the delays for the passengers.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch Web site, Romero said deep snow prevented them from being transferred to buses.