Originally Posted by
jackal
While Amtrak trains are affected by weather much more rarely than airlines, in the rare cases where weather causes delays, Amtrak will still rebook you on the next available train, but (just like airlines), they probably won't cover hotel costs (if applicable).
Even though
Amtrak policy is to provide accommodations "only when such circumstances resulted from the actions of Amtrak," I'm not sure that's a hard and fast rule. If long-distance pax miss their connection for whatever reason (in Chicago, say) and are not put on alternate transportation to catch up, Amtrak's default service recovery plan seems to be to provide hotel and meal vouchers along with space-available tickets on the next day's train. This has certainly happened in cases of host freight railroad delays, which are also outside of Amtrak's control (analogous to ATC delays).