By Marnie Hunter and Sharif Paget, CNN
(CNN) — A mechanical issue with the train that shuttles passengers between concourses at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Monday morning caused bottlenecks and confusion as people scrambled to get to their gates at the world’s busiest airport.
The airport said its Plane Train was in “shuttle mode due to a mechanical issue,” in a post on X. CNN has reached out to the airport for more details.
“Passengers are asked to follow directions from ATL and airlines until repairs are completed,” the airport’s post said.
Social media posts about the situation described a chaotic scene.
“ATL airport is pandemonium with the train down and masses of people at a standstill in the underground walkway between concourses,” one post said.
Keagan Ilvonen, 33, made it onto his flight Monday but described the scene after security checkpoints as a “mad house.”
“No staff directing, no one providing info. Just people loading off of escalators down into the train area on the ground,” Ilvonen told CNN.
“Honestly the worst congestion and handling of people I’ve ever seen in an airport,” Ilvonen said.
Tiffany King, 27, said in a message to CNN that “staff was yelling at people to walk forward but we couldn’t it was a grid locked crowd surge. It took me an hour to go from B gate to C gate.”
The automated train system has been carrying passengers through the airport since 1980. It carried more than 250,000 passengers each day as of 2018, according to the airport.
The-CNN-Wire
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