Riders Tell CBS 2 HD They Sat Stranded With No Warmth, Food Or Working Toilet For 6 Hours And Were Told Nothing

The Long Island Rail Road has apologized to the riders who were stranded on a train at Wyandanch during the snow storm early Sunday morning.

But as CBS 2 HD found out, some of the passengers are still angry over the inconvenience that lasted six hours.

If only the trains were running normally early Sunday morning. Instead, one train was stranded with no power.

"For me it was the cold that was killing me. My jacket was my blanket," passenger Derek Gumin said.

Gumin and his friend Joe Iannello, both 24, experienced the train ride from hell.

"There was no bathroom except one which was flooded. It was the biggest concern to most people," Gumin said.

What should have been a trip lasting an hour and 20 minutes took a total of six hours with the passengers stranded for three hours.

It was a Ronkonkoma-bound LIRR train Sunday morning that departed at 2:54. But at 5:05 a.m. it was stuck east of Wyandanch. At 5:17 a rescue team was dispatched and a tow train left Hicksville. At 6:20 repair efforts failed, new a train was rerouted and the rescue train arrived. But by then some passengers, who were told nothing, were frantic.

"When no information was coming, they started to knock out emergency windows and they were attempting to get off, which they were not allowed to do," Lannello said.

At 7:30 the disabled train was pushed to Farmingdale. At 8 the new train took on the stranded passengers. At 8:45 it arrived at Ronkonkoma. The LIRR admits it needs to do better.

"We apologized to those commuters. It was a great inconvenience. We recognize that and we've instituted a review of the incident, top to bottom," LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone said.

One of the options being considered during such fierce weather is to cancel some trains before they leave, like the airlines have done for years.

There were no injuries, in part, said the railroad, because no one was allowed to leave the train in blizzard conditions.