Coast Starlight rerouting in September

[roadman3313]

5:55pm is the scheduled arrival time into SBA normally for train 11. 6:02pm is the scheduled departure time. Is there any change on paper to your e-ticket?

It's nice if they are providing alternate transportation to those who already booked. I know for anyone who wasn't they would have to take train 11 to OKJ and transfer to Amtrak Thruway 4796 to Santa Barbara. Anyone going further south besides for LAX would then transfer to Pacific Surfliner train 796.

 

[Slasharoo]

the only change that I can find is the arrival time from 6:02 to 5:55. Don't know if that's enough to generate a new ticket, but if the 6:02 on their timetable is incorrect, maybe.

5:55pm is the scheduled arrival time into SBA normally for train 11. 6:02pm is the scheduled departure time. Is there any change on paper to your e-ticket?

 

[Danial Tijuana]

Swadian Hardcore yeah busses are just NOT trains.

You know there is that one train in Mexico

Chihuahua & Pacifico ("ChePe") -- the Copper Canyon train. It is like riding through a Chinese painting full of Mexican Indians. Towering mountain peaks and whispers of drug murders.

I hope to work in another ride on it next June.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Swadian Hardcore yeah busses are just NOT trains.You know there is that one train in Mexico

Chihuahua & Pacifico ("ChePe") -- the Copper Canyon train. It is like riding through a Chinese painting full of Mexican Indians. Towering mountain peaks and whispers of drug murders.

I hope to work in another ride on it next June.

I heard about that a long time ago on Seat61. But I can't get down to Mexico easily. The last time I crossed the Southern Border, I was riding a Turimex Internacional G4500 that broke down and stranded me in the middle of the desert for hours.

Mexico dosen't have trains down to Los Mochis or Chihuahua, and their "best" buses still break down a lot, so I'm not visiting Mexico again anytime soon. Plus, I don't the time or money anyway.

 

[sechs]

If this train is detouring through the Central Valley, why no just run south from SAC straight to SKT then south to LAX? Detouring through OKC dosen't sound logical.

On the contrary, it is VERY logical. It avoids having to inconvenience any passengers from Oregon or Washington with destinations in the Bay Area, and any passengers in Davis, Martinez, Emeryville, or Oakland destined for L.A. They can all stay on or take the Starlight rather than having to go part way by bus. It also reduces the cost of bus bridges.

There's also the fact that bus bridges or cancellations going the other way are avoided. If the Starlight goes through OKJ and EMY, in particular, they can still pick up a good share of the Bay Area-LA traffic. Not making those stops would either require folks to connect to the train at SAC (which would probably require the bus leave OKJ at 0500 or earlier to make an 0635 connection with any reliability), which would cost that much business.

You are right. I should have mentioned that in my earlier post. Several years ago, I boarded in Sacramento one of the first Coast Starlight trains to detour down the San Joaquin valley. It went directly, bypassing the Bay Area. Of course it was faster. In fact we arrived in LA about five hours early!!

When I rode the southbound detour some years ago from Oakland, we sat at OKJ for about an hour waiting for the UP pilot crew and would have arrived about an hour early into LAX had Metrolink not had us wait and run behind their slower moving train. We ended up a little late.

With only stops only at Lathrop, Fresno, and Bakersfield, getting in early only depends on how UP and Metrolink choose to dispatch the train.