Riding during daylight saving time

Does anyone have any advice, caveats, or experiences to share while riding or making connections during the night the time changes especially in spring. This year it will be March 13th.

um.....change your watch?

Seriously, I don't really know what you want. I'd just change my watch before I go to sleep. Your cell phone will automatically update...

I guess I was thinking more about making tight connections? Wouldn't you need to be there an hour earlier? Is this built into the times listed? For example if I am catching a train from KCY that leaves at 7am would it have made up an hour during the night on way from LAX to CHI? If I'm making a connection in CHI would that be affected?

CNW said:

I guess I was thinking more about making tight connections? Wouldn't you need to be there an hour earlier? Is this built into the times listed? For example if I am catching a train from KCY that leaves at 7am would it have made up an hour during the night on way from LAX to CHI? If I'm making a connection in CHI would that be affected?

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As long as all connecting points are changing to DST it shouldn't matter.....

As of 2 am, the trains, if on time, will be an hour late. They will try to make up time, but they won't be able to. Any trains originating that Sunday should leave on time under DST, though. So if there was a tight connection, that could conceivably be a problem, although Amtrak is used to this, and I would imagine they handle it somehow.

CNW said:

Does anyone have any advice, caveats, or experiences to share while riding or making connections during the night the time changes especially in spring. This year it will be March 13th.

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Why not ask the experts at 800-USA-RAIL

...I never thought of this, but it's a good question. I guess the inverse question also applies: When DST goes away, where does the train (presumably) get stuck for an hour?

Keep in mind that all trains running that night lose an hour. The schedule padding can make up for a lot of that time.

Aloha

Remember that the people that make the schedules are aware of the time changes and also zones. Your ticket will show the correct connection times for the time in that connection. Years ago the Railroads used "Railroad Standard time? now they adapt

Anderson said:

...I never thought of this, but it's a good question. I guess the inverse question also applies: When DST goes away, where does the train (presumably) get stuck for an hour?

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Back in the mid 80's I was baording in CHI the day before the Fall change to DST. Nothing was mentioned but we boarded exactly one hour late. This was before the day of the Metropolitan Lounge (or I was riding Slumbercoach) and we waited the whole hour standing on line. I guess Amtrak decided to have the train an hour late leaving the station than having it sit on a track somewhere for an hour when the time changed.

Anderson said:

When DST goes away, where does the train (presumably) get stuck for an hour?

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Speaking as someone who's spent years living in Minnesota and North Dakota, I can tell you what the EB routinely does under the current timetable during the fall time change at 2 AM.

The eastbound, if on time, will get into Fargo 13 minutes after the time change, or 1:13 CST. It will board and detrain passengers at this time, but since the train can't leave the station before the time shown in the timetable, it will pull ahead slightly, so as not to block any crossings, and wait for an hour. After this time, the train will back up to the station again, make another "official" stop and leave at the designated time in the timetable.

The westbound, once again if on time, will get into Staples 1:42 CDT. Here, too, it will sit for an hour, until the other 1:42 (this time CST) comes around.

Anderson said:

...I never thought of this, but it's a good question. I guess the inverse question also applies: When DST goes away, where does the train (presumably) get stuck for an hour?

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During the fall time change, trains go on their regular schedules. Because they can not depart a station until the scheduled departure time, the train may get to Pudunkville or Nowhere at 2:15 AM daylight time, but it can not depart until 2:15 AM standard time. Thus it has to stay in Pudunkville or Nowhere for 1 hour! But most people will be sleeping during that hour anyway!

Hey, I should plan a trip for that weekend! More train time!

The only other thing to watch for is stops in Arizona, as they'll be off by one hour. Most of Arizona does not observe DST, and this covers all of the Amtrak stops.

For example, the Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle leaves Maricopa at 12:57am, but this will be 11:57pm starting March 14 (the first run after DST changes).

Anderson said:

...I never thought of this, but it's a good question. I guess the inverse question also applies: When DST goes away, where does the train (presumably) get stuck for an hour?

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Yes, the train will simply sit in the station for an hour, or if your more then an hour late you magically make up a lot of time.

Tumbleweed said:

As long as all connecting points are changing to DST it shouldn't matter.....

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Sure it would. If your overnight train loses an hour and you are connecting to a

new train in CHI or elsewhere, the new train is not going to be an hour late since

it is starting its run post-changeover. You would not expect the eastbound CL to

leave CHI an hour late on the Sunday that clocks move forward, for example.

So if your connection is less than an hour, then logically it's impossible to make

that connection. But that would have been factored in when you bought a ticket,

so in that sense it's already accounted for.