ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Matthew Andrews has lived a life dedicated to travel. "I grew up riding Amtrak and then I've ridden it recently cross country a number of times," he told News 8 in a Monday interview. A former Department of Transportation employee from Cincinnati, he settled down in the town of Lewiston in Niagara County with his wife when he retired. Now a full-time passenger, he and his wife took a trip to New York City and had their returning train booked with Amtrak for Sunday. "We got to Rochester at about 2:45 p.m., and just as everyone who were embarking for Rochester got off, they said, Oh, by the way, we had the situation up the track. It should just be a few hours," Andrews said. A few hours - would turn into 11. The only official communication to passengers - three texts, which Andrews said - did not line up with what was happening. "They told us what happened," he said. "The storm came through. We didn't experience a storm since we were coming from Syracuse. But some people are concerned that there was such an event that knocked down an electric line onto the tracks, and they told us that, and they said, 'Well, crews are on board' and because I have worked in transportation, right of way issues in my original city — I kind of know how this stuff works. And those guys, they can look at a situation and tell you exactly how long it's going to take, and this and that, and give the Amtrak people enough information where they can start to come up with generics, how to get people out of a situation without letting it drag on for 11 hours." Seated on the train at 7 a.m. Sunday. Arriving in Rochester at 2:45 p.m. Andrews and his wife did not arrive home in Lewiston until 4 a.m. Monday. Storms impact Amtrak rides, passengers stuck for 11 hours Amtrak directed News 8 to CSX for further details on the train Andrews and around 80 other passengers were left on. We are awaiting a response. Amtrak Northeast did post the following message to X Sunday night, indicating numerous rides were likely impacted due to the storms: “Service Advisory: Due to high winds causing debris on the tracks, Trains operating between Syracuse (SYR) and Niagara Falls (NFL) are experiencing delays. Crews have been dispatched to resolve this issue. We are working to resume travel as quickly as possible.” "I've been on them before, where they've had two, three-hour issues, where they have to pull over for the freight rail. And I get that. But something like this, if it's not in their scenario. boy, it better be. It could have been a cow on the track or hitting a car or something, and you've got to know. 'Okay, so What's plan B?'" Andrews said in situations like this, there needs to be better organization from the company. "Somebody in the middle should be directing what the options are, and knowing that potentially, a two-hour event can become an 11-hour event and maybe even allow the ground crew (to say), 'Okay, just take all the food and feed everybody.' Because they would pass out water and pretzels and that only takes you so far. It doesn't work after 11 hours, when everybody's hungry and starving." Andrews told News 8 that traveling by train is still the way to go — and he and his wife will ride Amtrak again in the future but acknowledges the company's employee training and response plans need improvement. ...read more read less