'The Rest Of The Train Was Gone': NYC-Bound Amtrak Train Separates, Stranding Passengers Outside Of Albany

Sure, Penn Station was unpleasant on Thanksgiving Eve, but imagine heading to NYC on Wednesday on a train and suddenly the engine separates from the rest of the cars... and you're stuck. That's what happened last night to passengers on Amtrak Train 68.

The train was heading from Montreal to New York City when passengers suddenly saw a huge hole at the end of one of the train cars. Passenger Chuck Reeves told NY1, "I turned around and looked and the rest of the train was gone."

Another passenger told WTEN, "It was like an air noise. And I turned around and watched the train rip apart and the train—our train—kept going while the rest of the train was stopping in the back. It was crazy. We thought the other train was going to hit us."

According to the AP, "Some crying children were comforted by their parents, Reeves said, but for the most part no one panicked. A state trooper soon boarded to make sure everyone was safe."

Amtrak, which attributed the problem to a "mechanical" issue, dispatched a rescue train and put the passengers on a new train. The agency also said the 287 passengers and crew members were uninjured.

Reeves, who was taking the train to spend Thanksgiving at his parents' Long Island home, opted not to take Amtrak to NYC. Instead, he told the AP he'd been driving down with his brother today.