Amtrak, the US train and bus ticket booking platform, faced widespread technical issues on Friday evening, leaving passengers unable to book tickets, make payments or change existing reservations. Several users also reported trouble accessing bookings they had already made.
The outage left travellers frustrated, with hundreds reporting problems on Downdetector, a platform that tracks service disruptions.
Reports of booking problems began coming in before 5 pm on Friday, with complaints increasing before 6 pm. Users trying to access Amtrak's website were met with an error message that read, “We've experienced an unknown error. Please try again later.” Passengers also reported similar issues with the company's mobile app and customer service channels.
The surge in demand came as passengers scrambled to find alternative transportation after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop, disrupting air travel across the United States. With flights delayed or cancelled, many travellers turned to Amtrak for alternative travel arrangements, placing unusually high traffic on its booking platforms and telephone services.
Amtrak Communications Director W. Kyle Anderson said the company's train services were operating normally despite the technical difficulties, attributing the booking disruption to increased travel demand across its network. In responses to frustrated customers on social media platform X, the company also referred to a system-wide update but did not provide further details about the technical issue.
The disruption also affected Amtrak's call centres, which experienced unusually high call volumes and longer waiting times. An attempt by FOX 5 DC to contact customer support around 8 pm reportedly resulted in an automated message stating that calls could not be accepted because of exceptionally high demand.
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By approximately 9 pm, Amtrak confirmed that its booking systems were gradually returning to normal. However, officials cautioned that some customers might continue experiencing difficulties with payments, new reservations and changes to existing bookings. Passengers requiring assistance were advised to contact Amtrak's customer support.
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