UPDATE, 12:20 a.m. – Amtrak tells me the website and kiosks are now working. No explanation for the outage so far.
Amtrak’s website and ticketing system continued to experience an epic meltdown into Sunday night, as the nation’s rail service experienced a network outage that extended past 10 hours.
Neither Amtrak’s website not its in-station ticketing kiosks were working. Frustrated passengers were forced to stand on long lines and buy train tickets the old-fashioned way, from ticket agents. Consumers wishing to plan trips had few options.
“We are currently experiencing a network outage,” read a Tweet posted by Amtrak around noon ET on Sunday.
“If you are traveling today, please purchase your ticket at the station. We apologize.”
Travelers trying to get updates on delayed service took to Twitter, asking for train status reports. Amtrak’s social media team tried to keep up with the requests.
“Bus departed South Bend and 10:10 p.m. Expect around 10:30-10:30,” read one. “Sorry for the delay. We are unable to move the train until we receive a release from the local police authorities,” said another.
At 10 p.m., Amtrak said it had no idea when its network would be operating normally.
“Our IT department is working on the problem at this time,” it said.
Travelers who already had tickets were instructed to board trains, even if they couldn’t access their e-tickets.
There is no indication that trains are impacted by the outage, and no explanation for the computer problems.
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