What if I miss my connection?

Hi - I am taking a sleeper on the Empire Builder to Portland then picking up the Coast Starlight heading to L.A. There is a 4 hour gap between arrival and departure. If the Empire Builder is late and I miss the Coast Starlight, will Amtrak put me up? Will I be put in a sleeper on the next Coast Starlight? What if they are sold out?!

ZiaReba said:

Hi - I am taking a sleeper on the Empire Builder to Portland then picking up the Coast Starlight heading to L.A. There is a 4 hour gap between arrival and departure. If the Empire Builder is late and I miss the Coast Starlight, will Amtrak put me up? Will I be put in a sleeper on the next Coast Starlight? What if they are sold out?!

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If they know well enough in advance that you'll miss your connection, they'll put you on a bus (can't remember which stop) to catch up with the Coast Starlight. If not, they'll put you in a hotel. If the next day's CS's sleepers are sold out, you'll ride in coach (and should get a refund of the sleeper cost).

I believe that going north, they bus you from Klamath Falls OR to Pasco WA, so it's probably the same going south.

But, they'll have to wake you up at 5am to do that, so maybe not.

maxbuskirk said:

I believe that going north, they bus you from Klamath Falls OR to Pasco WA, so it's probably the same going south.

But, they'll have to wake you up at 5am to do that, so maybe not.

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If the train is over 4 hours late, it won't be arriving at Pasco at 5am.

:giggle:

It depends on how late the train is, as far as where they'll bus you from/to.

I was on the northbound CS to connect to the eastbound EB. They bussed us from Albany, OR to Portland up I-5. I was on a late westbound EB to connect to the southbound CS. They kept us on the train all the way to Portland and held the CS.

So there is no "set rule".

You will be put up, at Amtrak's expense, but you may or may not have a sleeper the next day (depending if any are available the next day).

I will cross my fingers. Thanks.

ZiaReba said:

I will cross my fingers. Thanks.

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I understand that not everyone can do what I do. But, on any Amtrak trip where there is a connection to be made, I build into my itinerary an overnight stay in that city of the connection. My blood pressure and nerves are the beneficiary if my train is running late.

I have learned if it looks like I'm facing a blown connection, I get right on the phone with Amtrak (or AGR if a Rewards ticket) and a good agent will get your new connection set up so you don't have to stand in line or sweat out getting a Sleeper next day. Of course if a hotel and meal money is involved, you'll likely have to line up for that but knowing your next day's train is already taken care of, you can relax.

Did anyone say yet that you can check the recent connections performance of a given train pair at https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/home.php?

Doesn't change anything, just gives you an idea of how nervous to be, LOL.

Thanks Oregon pioneer! I checked for the last month and only twice was the delay long enough to miss a connection!

If the EB is many hours late and Amtrak decides they will not hold the CS, they will likely take connecting passengers on a bus south from Pasco. The bus goes south on US97 through Bend and you catch up with the CS in Chemult about 8PM. You would get a meal break in Madras, Redmond or Bend.

BTW, I made my connection with about an hour to spare!

Thanks for the update...

ZiaReba said:

BTW, I made my connection with about an hour to spare!

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Yayyy!

(BTW, I also made the one I used that site to check on last year -- California Zephyr to Cardinal, a much more iffy proposition).

You were in Portland while I was in Portland it's a lovely city.