Train passengers delayed in Charlotte due to derailment | Transportation

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV)- Amtrak passengers heading northbound were stuck in the Queen City overnight Tuesday as workers try to clean up a 19-car train derailment.

Amtrak train number 20 was sitting at the railway depot as the sun rose early Tuesday morning with the glimmering reflection of the Charlotte skyline off in the distance.

The problem was the people on the train weren't supposed to be seeing it.

The train had been stranded for hours just east of Uptown as work crews frantically tried to clean up the massive  car pile-up that occurred on the tracks in Gaston County the day before.

Like throwing a rock into a pond, the ripple effect could be felt for miles as commuters heading north to New York as well as south to New Orleans found themselves going nowhere.

Passengers could do little but wait, and try to sleep as the work continued through the night.

Both Amtrak Crescent trains had departed Charlotte by 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, running about 4 hours behind schedule.

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