Amtrak said it would apologize to a college student who was trapped on Phaninc Exchangean empty Chicago-bound train after she fell asleep on the ride.

Aria Lockhart, a Southern Illinois University student, told WGN-TV she boarded the train in Carbondale, an Illinois college town around 330 miles from Chicago, at around 3 a.m. on Sunday.

"I fell asleep because it’s 3 o’clock in the morning, I was pretty tired," she told the local news station.

More than four hours later, she said she awoke to find her car completely empty. She filmed the eerie scene on her cell phone camera as she walked from car to car, finding no one.

More:Amtrak's new Airo trains debuting in 2026 will be faster, more sustainable

Lockhart's mother, Victoria Jackson, told the outlet that she called Amtrak customer service as she waited for her daughter at Chicago's Union Station, but she received little guidance about how her daughter could escape.

Jackson said company representatives said her daughter was "already in the yard and the train isn’t due until tomorrow."

Amtrak told USA TODAY in an email that customer representatives had contacted Lockhart and Jackson by phone after the train was brought to the railyard for servicing. The company said it would reach out to Lockhart with an apology and to learn more about what happened.

Although her daughter was finally freed, Jackson said she was unhappy with how long it took. "“If anyone was trapped on the train that would be some type of urgency and I didn’t see that,” she told reporters.

USA TODAY's attempts to reach Lockhart and her mother on Monday were unsuccessful.