Clogged Toilets And No AC: Amtrak Passengers Stranded For Hours In MI

BATTLE CREEK, MI — Passengers traveling from Chicago to Dearborn spent hours trapped inside a hot, smelly Amtrak train with overflowing toilets over the weekend, according to reports.

Amtrak posted Friday night on X that Train 352 had been canceled between Battle Creek and Pontiac, adding buses would be provided. One X user took the railway to task.

“Why is this train still not moving THREE hours later, 90 degrees, no bathrooms and mosquitos in the cars???” user @laurenolmeda posted in reply to the cancelation announcement, later adding, "People with BABIES, a blind man, elderly people forced to walk 25 minutes through a field to get to a road after four hours with few updates, no food or water, no bathrooms”

The mechanical problem happened near Battle Creek around 7:15 p.m. and buses arrived around 11:45 p.m., Amtrak told ClickOnDetroit in a statement.

In those intervening hours, passenger Diandria Bell told the outlet, there was no electricity or air conditioning.

The bathrooms were clogged within an hour and overflowed, passenger Tayeful Islam told MLive, adding people were crying and having panic attacks.

Passengers had to walk a half-mile to reach the buses, according to MLive, which reported some struggled to make the trek due to disabilities or cumbersome luggage. Police transported 40 people to the buses who couldn’t walk, the outlet reported.