CARPINTERIA, Calif. – The U.S. Highway 101 shutdown caused some chaos at the Amtrak station in Carpinteria Monday morning.
Hundreds of people were packed shoulder to shoulder at the station after a train, scheduled to arrive at 10:06 a.m., was too full.
Ticket holders said that when the train arrived, Amtrak announced only first responders were able to take the route up to Santa Barbara.
“The train came through and basically they said they were only letting nurses, paramedics, first responders or emergency helpers on the train and everyone else needed to hang out,” said a waiting passenger, Kristen Hermanson.
Most Carpinteria passengers are forced to take Amtrak Surfliner to Santa Barbara for their Monday morning commute since Highway 101 will be closed throughout the week.
Hundreds of ticketholders were told to wait for the next available train.
“I have never seen anything like this and everyone is a little nervous,” said passenger Cory Welles. “People have business class or coach and they are wondering if they are going to stand in a certain spot to get in or early and it doesn’t seem to matter.”
Amtrak says they have added extra railcars to each of its 10 daily trains serving Santa Barbara County, adding more than 2,000 extra seats.
For hundreds stuck Monday morning in Carpinteria, it was still not enough.
“I don’t want to get stranded there,” said Ray Romeo. “My fear is being stranded. I have a ticket there to go up and back but we’ll see how that works out.”
