‘Top Chef’s’ Tom Colicchio says he was stuck on Amtrak for ‘close to 5 hours’ after Philly conference

Celebrity chef Tom Colicchio is 86′ing Amtrak on social media after a late-night train delay leaving Philadelphia left the Top Chef judge stranded on the tracks.

“@Amtrak 3 hour delay from Philadelphia to NYC It would have been nice to know before we boarded,” Colicchio wrote on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before 11:30 p.m. Monday night.

Amtrak responded to the message apologizing for the inconvenience and requesting that the prolific poster — Colicchio has almost 900,000 followers on the platform — reach out once his train arrived at its destination in New York City.

Colicchio was in town to speak at the inaugural Chef Conference. The New Jersey native has served as a head judge on every season of Top Chef, a competition show where chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges, and is the co-owner of restaurants from Los Angeles to New York.

Colicchio’s team at Top Chef did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As late night turned to early morning, Colicchio was still waiting — and posting.

“What are your plans to evacuate us from this train. It has been close to 5 hours now.” Colicchio wrote at 1:20 a.m.

Almost an hour later: “Boarded at 830pm it is now 2am. What are you plans to get us off this train,” he continued.

An Amtrak spokesperson said Tuesday that “overhead power issues between Philadelphia and New York caused significant delays and led to service adjustments, which continued for a few hours.”

According to the Chef Conference’s website, the gathering is intended to “bring together emerging and established names in hospitality from around the world for meaningful dialogue on the most important topics guiding the future of the restaurant industry and unparalleled dining experiences.”

Colicchio joined speakers including Michael Solomonov, the chef behind Zahav, Laser Wolf, and other Philadelphia hotspots, as well as prominent chefs and culinary commentators like Andrew Zimmern, Ashley Christensen, and Colicchio’s Top Chef co-judge Gail Simmons.

Colicchio and Simmons were spotted together on Instagram at Her Place Supper Club, the much-beloved Center City restaurant from chef Amanda Shulman.

Around the time Colicchio boarded the train bound for New York, Amtrak began alerting customers that they should expect delays.

Amtrak posted on X multiple times shortly before 8:30 p.m. saying that “Due to rail congestion resulting from overhead power issues,” its Acela and Keystone trains on routes between Philadelphia and New York City would either terminate in New Jersey or be canceled.

By Tuesday, “Service has been restored following overhead power issues last night between Philadelphia (PHL) and New York (NYP),” Amtrak said on its website. “However, some residual delays continue this morning.”

The rail service’s 181, 114, 112, and 131 Northeast regional trains were canceled Tuesday due to those power issues, according to Amtrak.