Zephyr disconnecting from Capitol Corridor

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TiBike

OBS Chief
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
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709
Location
Alta California
It's been about a year since I booked a trip from Reno to San Jose on the California Zephyr. Tried it today, and found that I can't get a guaranteed connection to the Capitol Corridor until 7:20 pm. I used to be able to book a through connection on the 5:15 pm Capitol Corridor weekday departure from Emeryville. The CZ arrives at 4:10 pm, in theory, but I guess they've given up on keeping to a schedule. It's an easy fix – the price is the same whether I book a through connection or two separate tickets. For that matter, I could have booked the later connection and just gotten on the 5:15, but I might as well wait until I have a rough idea of the Zephyr's ETA first.

It was an important connection for me (when it worked, which is another problem) because it could get me to Salinas and the Monterey Peninsula on the same day. I can work around it, but Amtrak is basically telling CZ passengers there's nothing past Emeryville except a late ride to San Jose. Otherwise, it's "here be dragons".

I originally tried booking from San Jose to Reno on a Sunday, and I can't do that any more. The connection from the Capitol Corridor to the Zephyr was tight (and not guaranteed), but worth risking, since there's a thruway as a back up. The Capitol Corridor schedule was shifted though, and now it misses the CZ by 15 minutes. It just seems like there's no coordination between the two routes.
 
Since the Capitol Corridor is unreserved just get on the train and don't worry about it being late or early.
 
Since the Capitol Corridor is unreserved just get on the train and don't worry about it being late or early.
The OP knows this, but I think the larger point is that many of less-knowledgable passengers will think the earlier connection is not possible or no longer available. Amtrak is potentially losing out on ticket revenue from people who wouldn't book such a long layover but would be happy with a shorter one.
 
Exactly. The more connection options, the more passengers will ride. It's the network effect.

Removing the 5:15 connection makes life easier for employees – fewer rebookings for late trains, less of a rush to transfer passengers and unload baggage, no need to worry about running the CZ on time. But the cost is less utility and convenience for passengers, which reduces Amtrak's value as a company.
 
If we really want to imagine connectivity on this route how about this.

First. It would take cooperation between the various California powers that be, and Amtrak. And likely money. So won't happen.

But, imagine...

The CZ and CS reroute over Altimont pass, with the CZ originating/terminating in San Jose. 1 hour Sacramento-Stockton, 2 hours Stockton-San Jose. 15 minutes more or less than the schedule now. The Capitol Corridor trains provide connections at Sacramento for the Bay Area. Cross platform connections at Stockton (downtown) with San Joaquins (And yes, an ugly backing move. Which should a little less ugly if the conductor could move to the trailing cab to become the lead during the reverse). And if we really wanted to be fancy there could be Oakland and Bakersfield sleepers. (End of train aka EB pdx section, with careful orientation of the cab car on the San Joaquins so the sleeper does not have to lead in a backing move). To save rebooking the connections assume a unique train number, and then operate as a dual numbered train so if the ld train is late the connection train operates with a later reigional (Capitol 727 becomes 727/x11 to Oakland, if 11 is late then the connection is reassigned to 729 as 729/x11).

Advantages: The CZ and CS gain a Pleasanton/Livermore and a Stockton stop which should boost ridership. Improved connections to Bakersfield and direct connections to Stockton boosting ridership. A morning eastbound/afternoon westbound compliment to ACE serving Pleasanton/Livermore and Stockton. Sleeper service to Bakersfield. Opens two more slots in the busy Oakland-Sacramento route for additional Capitol Corridor trains.

Neutral: Bay area requires connections at Sacramento.

Disadvantages: Backing move in Stockton, Switching of sleepers, More complex scheduling. Deadhead move of CZ San Jose-Emeryville to service base.

Unknown: Availability of slots Sacramento-Stockton. I think Stockton-San Jose is low freight use so slots should be easy.
 
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no need to worry about running the CZ on time.
I thought that Amtrak heeds dispatching, and travels at full permitted speed if possible. Worrying doesn't make you go faster.
There are plenty of aspects of running a train on time that are well within Amtrak's control, such as the state of maintenance of their own equipment. Yes, there are certainly things that are not in Amtrak's control.

By the way, I crunched the numbers and the CZ has arrived in EMY in time to make a 5:15 connection 83% of the time so far this year. And I didn't bother adjusting for the slightly later Capitol Corridor connection on weekends, so if you factor that in, the percentage of "made" connections would be even higher.
 
If we really want to imagine connectivity on this route how about this.

First. It would take cooperation between the various California powers that be, and Amtrak. And likely money. So won't happen.

But, imagine...

The CZ and CS reroute over Altimont pass, with the CZ originating/terminating in San Jose. 1 hour Sacramento-Stockton, 2 hours Stockton-San Jose. 15 minutes more or less than the schedule now. The Capitol Corridor trains provide connections at Sacramento for the Bay Area. Cross platform connections at Stockton (downtown) with San Joaquins (And yes, an ugly backing move. Which should a little less ugly if the conductor could move to the trailing cab to become the lead during the reverse). And if we really wanted to be fancy there could be Oakland and Bakersfield sleepers. (End of train aka EB pdx section, with careful orientation of the cab car on the San Joaquins so the sleeper does not have to lead in a backing move). To save rebooking the connections assume a unique train number, and then operate as a dual numbered train so if the ld train is late the connection train operates with a later reigional (Capitol 727 becomes 727/x11 to Oakland, if 11 is late then the connection is reassigned to 729 as 729/x11).

Advantages: The CZ and CS gain a Pleasanton/Livermore and a Stockton stop which should boost ridership. Improved connections to Bakersfield and direct connections to Stockton boosting ridership. A morning eastbound/afternoon westbound compliment to ACE serving Pleasanton/Livermore and Stockton. Sleeper service to Bakersfield. Opens two more slots in the busy Oakland-Sacramento route for additional Capitol Corridor trains.

Neutral: Bay area requires connections at Sacramento.

Disadvantages: Backing move in Stockton, Switching of sleepers, More complex scheduling. Deadhead move of CZ San Jose-Emeryville to service base.

Unknown: Availability of slots Sacramento-Stockton. I think Stockton-San Jose is low freight use so slots should be easy.


BIG disadvantage: CZ no longer serves San Francisco without a connection. This plan is DOA.
 
If we really want to imagine connectivity on this route how about this.

First. It would take cooperation between the various California powers that be, and Amtrak. And likely money. So won't happen.

But, imagine...

The CZ and CS reroute over Altimont pass, with the CZ originating/terminating in San Jose. 1 hour Sacramento-Stockton, 2 hours Stockton-San Jose. 15 minutes more or less than the schedule now. The Capitol Corridor trains provide connections at Sacramento for the Bay Area. Cross platform connections at Stockton (downtown) with San Joaquins (And yes, an ugly backing move. Which should a little less ugly if the conductor could move to the trailing cab to become the lead during the reverse). And if we really wanted to be fancy there could be Oakland and Bakersfield sleepers. (End of train aka EB pdx section, with careful orientation of the cab car on the San Joaquins so the sleeper does not have to lead in a backing move). To save rebooking the connections assume a unique train number, and then operate as a dual numbered train so if the ld train is late the connection train operates with a later reigional (Capitol 727 becomes 727/x11 to Oakland, if 11 is late then the connection is reassigned to 729 as 729/x11).

Advantages: The CZ and CS gain a Pleasanton/Livermore and a Stockton stop which should boost ridership. Improved connections to Bakersfield and direct connections to Stockton boosting ridership. A morning eastbound/afternoon westbound compliment to ACE serving Pleasanton/Livermore and Stockton. Sleeper service to Bakersfield. Opens two more slots in the busy Oakland-Sacramento route for additional Capitol Corridor trains.

Neutral: Bay area requires connections at Sacramento.

Disadvantages: Backing move in Stockton, Switching of sleepers, More complex scheduling. Deadhead move of CZ San Jose-Emeryville to service base.

Unknown: Availability of slots Sacramento-Stockton. I think Stockton-San Jose is low freight use so slots should be easy.
The loss of a popular Bay Area stop is hardly neutral. Part of the appeal of the CZ is a simple connection to San Francisco, which is popular tourist destination. A lot more people live near San Francisco and the East Bay than Stockton and San Jose. While San Jose and Silicon Valley are important business destinations, business travelers rarely take LD rail. It would likely lose riders heading for San Francisco.

On top of that, Capitol Corridor has no baggage service.

Something that might work would be some loop around San Jose that ends up back in Oakland-Jack London as the endpoint. That would make more sense because that's just before the Oakland railyard, and could be a convenient connection to San Francisco. The problem would be added time to the schedule of the loop. I think it's been discussed here before. There might be a way to loop around San Jose to reach Oakland. However, the big problem is Union Pacific. Extracting additional slots for Capitol Corridor has been difficult.

A huge loser in any of these scenarios would be the city of Emeryville, which built that station to replace the old Oakland 16th St Station as an endpoint for the CZ.
 
Taking Altamont Pass and Niles Canyon would add at least two hours to the CZ route to Oakland, versus the present Cal-P line via Martinez to Emeryville. And from the last half-dozen or so trips on the westbound CZ, I would say more than half of the passengers detraining at Emeryville board one of the connecting buses to cross the Bay to San Francisco.

Just as San Jose is unlikely to get the SF Giants, so too are they unlikely to get the California Zephyr.
 
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