‘Train Ride from Hell’: 17-Hour Amtrak Trip Becomes 37-Hour Ordeal

“Everyone, you can imagine, was super moody and frustrated, and everyone was testy,” Ms. Dore said. “There were passengers arguing with crew members. It was definitely very tense there.”

In an email, an Amtrak spokeswoman said that passengers were given “regular updates, along with meals, snack packs and beverages” throughout the stop-and-start trip. The train also stopped in Savannah, Ga., to refill water and in Jacksonville, Fla., for pizza, the spokeswoman, Kimberly Woods, said.

“Amtrak apologizes for the delay,” Ms. Woods said. “We will be working with each customer on fare refunds.”

Mary-Jane Crowley of Glenville, N.Y., who was traveling with her husband, Mike, to their second home in Naples, Fla., said one passenger was worried about running out of diapers for her child and others were worried about running out of medication.

“It was the train ride from hell,” Ms. Crowley said. “What are you going to do? They will not let you out. You just sit there. You just sit and wait and sit and wait.”

Ms. Kalkofen said she overheard passengers complaining about the sorry state of rail travel in the United States and griping that the country was sending too much of its money to “other people.”

“A lot of people expressed their frustrations that way, and other people were just nice,” she said. “One lady was carrying a big cardboard box, collecting trash. The place was quite littered at that point.”