Coast Starlight Trains

[Illinois Zephyr]

Over the past weeks, I have heard nothing but horror stories about the Amtrak Coast Starlight scheduled operations. Lots of talk going around about how these trains have been running anywhere from 4 hours late to 12 hours late or more.

Word has it that a recent interview with a Coast Starlight passenger was quoted to have stated the following: "Train from hell", "Never Again", "If I wanted to take all these hours to get here, I would have saved the money and drove it all!"

This is not a good sign at all, not good. Amtrak was said to have had this problem because of Union Pacific's inability to maintain good upkeep on their rails, UP's inability to allow Amtrak trains to pass first as stated in federal law, and again...UP's inability to dispatch properly.

Out of all of Amtrak's operations, the Coast Starlight is now suffering from having the worst schedule / on - time performance in all of the services provided by Amtrak.

Anyone want to shed light on this topic? What's true, what's media hype, and so on?

Best To All!

 

[AmtrakWPK]

As far as UP dispatching Amtrak trains on a priority basis, I think we have "refusal" rather than "inability"; "Won't", not "can't". Remember how. when Sunset ran all the way to Orlando, it was sometimes running around 24 hours late? Same reason, mostly. The fact that on several current routes trains have been running MUCH closer to schedule after angry voices were recently heard on "The Hill" and after angry letters to freight railroads were recently sent from Amtrak, with the contents publicized, all lends credence to a lack of will, not a lack of ability. At least that's how I see it. After all, if they give the required priority to Amtrak, their own freight business suffers. Can't have that.

 

[Sam Damon]

It is my understanding that as a direct result of UP's inability to move the CS in a timely fashion, Senator Patty Murray had a paragraph or two added to the Amtrak subsidy bill, instructing DOT/STB to conduct traffic flow analysis along the route.

After the draft left committee, AFAIK, OTP on some routes improved a bit. But it's still nothing to write home about.

 

[PRR 60]

After the draft left committee, AFAIK, OTP on some routes improved a bit. But it's still nothing to write home about.

I beg to differ. The improvement in the Coast Starlight performance has been nothing less than amazing. Whether that is due completion of trackwork with multiple slow orders lifted or political pressure is a matter of debate, but over the last several weeks the CS has been among the best performing Amtrak long distance trains.

From Amtrak.com

21SEP #11 arrived LAX 31min. late, #14 arrived SEA 27min. early

22SEP #11 arrived LAX 16min. early, #14 arrived SEA 79min. late

23SEP #11 arrived LAX 2min. late, #14 arrived SEA 25min. early

24SEP #11 arrived LAX 85min. late, #14 arrived SEA 51min. early

25SEP #11 arrived LAX 11min. late, #14 arrived SEA 133min. late

Compared to hours and hours late, as was the norm most of the year, the Coast Starlight at least for now is no longer the Coast StarLATE.

 

[crazy]

Why is the still a bus connection from #14 to the EB then?

 

[AlanB]

Why is the still a bus connection from #14 to the EB then?

Because until Amtrak is sure that UP can maintain the current performance levels, they aren't going to risk spending the millions of dollars that they wasted in the past thanks to the missed connections. The last two weeks of ontime performance simply isn't good enough to prove that UP can maintain the current OTP. If UP manages to keep this up for the next 5 months or so, then maybe you'll see Amtrak drop the mandatory bus connection with next springs timetable change.

I'm however not holding my breath.

 

[Guest]

so they are busing pax even tho the train is on time or is the bus just in case it's late?

 

[AlanB]

so they are busing pax even tho the train is on time or is the bus just in case it's late?

They'll just keep bussing for now, even though the train may be on time.

Since it's cheaper to have a long term contract with the bus company to run the bus every day as opposed to the dramatic costs when they have to order buses at the last minute because UP screwed up. Not to mention the cost of reprinting the timetables for everyone to know that the a change has been made.

I've seen many examples of Amtrak stupidly wasting money on things that they shouldn't be. This is one time that I think that Amtrak is 100% correct. There should be no changes in bussing until UP can prove that they can deliver Amtrak into Portland at least 90% of the time, on time. Someone at Amtrak has used their brains in making the decision to not stop using the bus connection until such time as UP can be relied upon.

Again, two or three weeks of close to on time performance proves nothing when for the last year or longer, UP cause Amtrak to miss the all train connection at Portland close to 90% of the time. I wouldn't trust UP any farther than I can throw one of their engines, and that wouldn't be very far at all. :lol:

 

[AmtrakLoverAndHater]

Whoa, the Starlate was actually early for once? Hoorah, to say the least.

 

[Sam Damon]

I beg to differ. The improvement in the Coast Starlight performance has been nothing less than amazing. Whether that is due completion of trackwork with multiple slow orders lifted or political pressure is a matter of debate, but over the last several weeks the CS has been among the best performing Amtrak long distance trains.

OK, Mr. PRR Pittsburgher.

I stand corrected. I haven't been following the CS closely over the last couple weeks.

And I agree we can't tell from here whether the trackwork or the political pressure has to do with this. I suspect, however, the trackwork wouldn't have come together as quickly without the political pressure, though.

 

[Guest]

was on it last week LAX-SJC ontime the whole way....best trip in the last few years!

 

[seern]

I am not a fan of UP's operations, but some of what we are see may be the result of this summers track work in the area south of Eugene toward KF. This has eliminated a lot of slow orders.

 

[gswager]

Are CS timetable back to normal or still on extended schedule due to trackwork?

 

[Guest]

Why is the still a bus connection from #14 to the EB then?

How does the bus connection work?

 

[AlanB]

Why is the still a bus connection from #14 to the EB then?

How does the bus connection work?

One gets off the Coast Starlight, gets on a bus and takes a ride for about 10 hours. Then you get off the bus and get on the Portland section of the Empire Builder. :lol:

They bus you from Klamath Falls, OR on the CS route to Pasco, WA on the EB route.

 

[GG-1]

Why is the still a bus connection from #14 to the EB then?

How does the bus connection work?

One gets off the Coast Starlight, gets on a bus and takes a ride for about 10 hours. Then you get off the bus and get on the Portland section of the Empire Builder. :lol:

They bus you from Klamath Falls, OR on the CS route to Pasco, WA on the EB route.

Aloha

in 2001 two friends from Los Angeles decided to take the Coast Starlight to the Empire Builder to Chicago.

I planed on an overnight in Seattle for my Connection. When the Starlight was late into Klamath Falls My friends were told they needed to Switch to the bus as the connection would be missed in Seattle. Imagine my suprise when they Joined my EB someware in WA, now without sleepers as the bus had broken down and missed that connection. Their trip time on the Bus 17-18 hours. They slept on the bus while waiting for service on the side of rural highway and only one meal stop. When added to the Next Day EB no beds were left. They were provided some compensation, not sure what, and All the meals in Diner were included. They said before they left Chicago on the Chief they thought the were comped to sleepers back to LA.