Amtrak train has 11-hour journey from DC to NYC

[December 18, 2010]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Power problems turned one train's trip between Washington, D.C., and New York City into an 11-hour journey.

Amtrak says problems started when a commercial power line fell on overhead wires around 8:45 p.m. Thursday.

Spokesman Steve Kulm says one train got stuck on the tracks north of Perryville, Md., with more than 400 passengers onboard.

The train left Washington shortly before 7:30 p.m. and was stranded for several hours before being towed to a station. The trip normally would have taken less than 3 1/2 hours, but the train didn't arrive in New York until about 6:15 a.m.

Stephen Tschida (SHEE'-dah), a television reporter for an ABC affiliate in Washington, was aboard and tweeted about his ordeal on Twitter.

"People are cold, hungry, and frightened," he said in one tweet. "I hear yelling in other cars." At one point, he tweeted "People are storming the conductor."

Kulm says passengers were well cared for.

[Associated Press]

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