Weather affecting Amtrak

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Joined
Sep 1, 2020
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Hello,
has anyone been on a Amtrak train during a tornado warning, if so what usually happens besides the train stopping until the warning expires? Thanks
 
Hello,
has anyone been on a Amtrak train during a tornado warning, if so what usually happens besides the train stopping until the warning expires? Thanks
We were heading westbound onboard Southwest Chief No. 3 and were an hour or so out of Chicago. Listening to our scanner, we heard the main line dispatcher contact our train with a weather warning that 60 mile an hour winds had been reported to the west of us. We heard our engineer ask the dispatcher if Amtrak #6 (the east-bound Zephyr) had had to stop. Shortly afterwards, our train came to a stop. There were dark storm clouds overhead, with strong wind and lightning. An announcement was eventually made to the passengers as to why we had stopped. A short time later, we monitored a second high wind warning. About 30 minutes later, the eastbound Zephyr went by and we eventually got underway in a light rain.
 
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We weee on the Pennsylvanian and we stopped in the middle of nowhere west of Harrisburg (headed to Pittsburgh). My son got an alert on his phone about a tornado warning. It got very dark out and we basically just waited about 30 minutes. Crew did announce that there was a tornado warning for the area we would be passing through about ten miles ahead.

I think they typically stop trains well outside of affected areas as much as possible. Most such experiences are likely similar — a delay for some amount of time until the weather clears. I would not think evacuation of the train would be common; you probably are safer in the car than outside if you actually are in the area where the severe weather is occurring
 
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