Amtrak trains halted by track closure near Nevada-California border

RENO — Amtrak says two trains together carrying nearly 300 passengers stopped and reversed directions because of a railroad track closure in the Sierra Nevada in Northern California.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said a westbound train on the California Zephyr route halted Tuesday at Reno and early Wednesday headed back toward Chicago while an eastbound train that left Emeryville, California, on Tuesday stopped at Roseville, California, before turning around.

Magliari said Amtrak put the passengers in Reno up for the night in a hotel and provided charter buses to resume their journey.

The Reno Gazette Journal reported that the trains halted because an avalanche and boulders closed the tracks, which Magliari said are operated by Union Pacific.

UP spokesman Tim McMahan said he wasn’t able to confirm the track closure reported by Amtrak.