Refunds not enough after nightmare Amtrak train ride to Chicago, passengers say

It was Cierra Murphy’s first train ride.

She had expected an exciting adventure: a 10-day trek to New Mexico, California and the Pacific Coast, staying nights in sleeper cars, eating meals on the train and seeing the country by rail. But it quickly turned into a nightmare.

Engine problems, long delays and unexpected stops turned a five-hour ride into a 19-hour ordeal.

“It actually ruined our entire trip,” Murphy said.

Murphy, 22, of Southville was aboard Wolverine 351, an Amtrak train that left Michigan at 6 a.m. Friday, Oct. 7, and didn’t arrive in Chicago until midnight. For hours, passengers said the train had no electricity, no heat and no working toilets.

“Amtrak apologies (sic) to those impacted by the delays of Train 351/353, and we are offering vouchers and or refunds to our customers,” spokesperson Jason Abrams said in a statement.

But many passengers who are looking for answers from Amtrak say refunds aren’t enough.

“This is just a really frustrating experience with the lack of communication from Amtrak,” said Sarah Pisarczyk, 21, who was traveling from Ann Arbor to Chicago to go to a Harry Styles concert with her older sister.

Related: Passengers flee train during 19-hour ride from Michigan to Chicago

Wolverine 351 first came to abrupt stop west of Ann Arbor due to engine issues, according to Abrams, and another train, Wolverine 353, was then brought in to pull it to Chicago. Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari said alternative transportation by bus “was not available, because of insufficient vehicles, drivers or both.”

The train stopped again east of Jackson then parked near East Chicago for a crew change. Federal law only allows train crews to work 12-hour shifts, but passengers said this sudden stop left them stranded in the cold and the dark without any updates from Amtrak.

“After about like two and a half hours of just sitting there — after they had said it was only going to be like 30 minutes — a bunch of people just started saying ‘well, they’re not going to stop me from getting off the train,’” Pisarczyk said.

That’s where Pisarczyk got off after spending 15 hours on board. She crossed live tracks illuminated by glowsticks, found a break in a fence and waited for her dad to pick her up on the side of the road.

“It was remarkable. It felt like we were in a movie the whole time. I don’t think we could have scripted it any crazier,” she said.

Mark Hovermale, 41, of Novi also found himself standing on an expressway Friday night.

Heading to the Chicago marathon with a team of runners raising money for Christian organization World Vision, Hovermale was aboard Wolverine 353, the train brought into to rescue the first one. He hopped off near East Chicago, walked across the tracks and took an Uber into the city.

“It was a nightmare,” he said.

Amtrak reimbursed Hovermale and his wife $80 — the cost of two one-way tickets — but he’s now fighting for the company to cover the cost of his Uber, hotel fees and return trip to Ann Arbor.

“I don’t want to get back on it,” he said before boarding the train Monday. “Renting a car at this point would be $400 or $500 to come back. A last-minute flight is too expensive. We made these arrangements. Most of us are jokingly but very scared to get back on the train.”

Abrams estimated the delays to be about seven hours for Wolverine 351 and 3 hours 42 minutes for Wolverine 353. But passengers on Wolverine 351 said they were supposed to arrive around 10:30 a.m. — 12 hours earlier — and Amtrak trip status screenshots shared with MLive show the delay was 10 hours for the second train.

Murphy, traveling with her boyfriend and his parents, ended up staying Friday night in Chicago on Amtrak’s dime. After missing their connecting train to Albuquerque, she said Amtrak offered them seats on a coach train heading west.

“We did not want to spend 30 hours on coach going to Albuquerque after we spent 19 hours in coach already,” she said.

The group ended up renting a car in Chicago and completely changing their trip. Murphy said they drove through Wisconsin, across Minnesota and plan to spend the next few days in Sioux Falls, South Dakota seeing waterfalls and possibly Mount Rushmore.

At least three hours on the phone with Amtrak customer service got the family a refund and a $2,000 trip voucher. But Murphy says that’s not enough to cover their frustration or a $1,000 hotel cancellation fee.

“What we want right now is an apology letter and after-action report basically saying what protocols happened, which did you abide by, which ones did you not do, which ones were disregarded,” she said.

Others have struggled to get full refunds from Amtrak.

Amanda Marion, 41, was planning to visit her brother in Chicago and celebrate their birthdays…