Not to cast aspersions, but I think if my trip was delayed by a suicide, I'd be thinking "They are dead, I am alive, I think I prefer my fate". Their lives weren't interrupted, they were ended. What I wonder is whether there's ANYTHING Amtrak should do in the event of such interruptions. I don't think it is a matter of whether the train crew is at fault. The complaint often made about airline passengers stuck on the tarmac is not entirely the time. It is what the airline did or did not do while the passengers were trapped in their plane.
Before deregulation, I flew Northwest from Seattle to Minneapolis. We had to sit for a long period of time in Spokane due to heavy traffic. Now, I would NOT recommend this as a model, just saying they opened the bar and poured drinks for anyone who wanted them. I guess that was when people were customers, not cargo.
So I don't know what policy should be when people are sitting on a train, stuck without any recourse. I guess if any of them wanted a beer, they should be able to buy one. Take measures of a reasonble proportion to care for passenger comfort wihout going to extremes. Remembering that practically all our train fares are low due to subsidy.
