Southwest Chief Connecting to Coast Starlight

[TrainLoverJoy]

With an almost 2-hour leeway, how well has the 3 Chief been doing lately in making the connection to the Starlight? Is the Starlight known for waiting for the Chief if it is running late?

 

[yarrow]

if you google "amtrak delays" you will find a site which will give up to 4 weeks of arrivals(you want to enter train 3 and station lax). we have made the connection several times and the swc has always been early into lax though for any given trip ymmv

 

[the_traveler]

The SWC to CS is probably the most certain connection that is on Amtrak! In all my travels over the years, I have only seen it miss once - and in that case they bussed connecting passengers between Barstow and Santa Barbara.

 

[siberianmo]

For: TrainLoverJoy - Here is a link to help you with the most current data on Amtrak trains - http://www.amtrakdelays.onlineschedulingsoftware.com

In my travels it seems one simply cannot depend upon what a particular train did "yesterday" - one day early, another on time, yet another late; a crap shoot. However, using the site provided, at least you can have a measure of how things have gone - especially for particular days of the week.

Last time my wife and I took the SW Chief from Chicago to LA, we were running nearly 2 1/2 hours late at a point in Arizona, but wound up arriving in time to cross the platform to our waiting Coast Starlight. Just one of those things.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

I rode the Coast Starlight in July 2013 and we waited over an hour for the late SWC to make the connection before departing LAX. So I think Amtrak holds the CS if the SWC in not too late.

 

[TrainLoverJoy]

if you google "amtrak delays" you will find a site which will give up to 4 weeks of arrivals(you want to enter train 3 and station lax). we have made the connection several times and the swc has always been early into lax though for any given trip ymmv

Thank You!.....I didn't know there was such a site, will be very helpful in the future.

 

[gswager]

If it's late, sometimes the Amtrak bus at San Bernardino station will be waiting for you and bussed to Bakersfield and catch San Joaquin train to the Bay area. Not a pretty option!