That's because everyone is making the same mistake over and over again that this was the "football train" when in fact it wasn't. 118 passengers is probably closer
It uses superliner coaches, but sitting all night getting in around 6 AM instead of 9:30 PM is bad regardless of what you're on!
Well, then it would not have been avoidable. If I would be sutck in the middle of the night anywhere I would prefer a Superliner over a car or bus!
There also could have been some Oklahoma residents on board, but most likely only had people who weren't from Texas.
IF you are a railnut like most of us here. If you're just a plain ol' passenger who struggled between taking your own car, The Dog, flying, or Amtrak, I'm guessing that for about 100 of those 118 passengers on board will limit their choices to the first three next time.
I agree...but I do wonder if Amtrak would offer free tickets to the 118 passengers who had such a horrible experience, some of whom may have been first time riders. Rail fans don't care about being stuck on a train in the middle of nowhere but most Amtrak riders use the service to get from A to B somewhere reasonably close to the timetable.
I guess that's why railroad engines fail (I'm guessing, here) more than 1000 times more often than airplane engines do.
Speak for yourself. I am a railnut too but I would sure as heck NOT enjoy the experience of sitting in a coach seat, Superliner or otherwise, in a stationary train in the dark of the night with no scenery to enjoy, all night long and arriving over 9 hours delayed, in addition to the 6-odd hours the slowly ambling train takes to cover a distance that can be driven in a little over 3 hours. A nine hour delay is bad even on a 50 hour Empire Builder journey, but putting things in perspective, a 3 hour drive taking 15 hours by train is going to **** off anyone, including moi railnut. I really hope Amtrak does offer them refund of their ticket money or a voucher for free future travel on the Flyer.
Who said that they would enjoy anything?
When modern aircraft are hit by lightening they simply discharge the energy into the air around them through static wicks located on the trailing edge of the wings. Over time some of the wicks may become weakened or even fall off and need to be replaced, but that's about the extent of the harm lightening can do to a modern commercial aircraft. I had always assumed that lightening was a similarly minor issue for modern locomotives as well, although that may not be the case after reading about this incident.
I've no idea just what exactly Amtrak will give the passengers, but it is clear that Amtrak wants to offer them something, since all the stories that I've seen on this to date all say that passengers on this train should call Amtrak Customer service.
