Southwest Chief to Coast Starlight Connection at LAX

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ATXEagle

Service Attendant
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Aug 9, 2009
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129
Location
Austin, TX
I'm scheduled on the Southwest Chief early next week, connecting to the Coast Starlight in LA. I hadn't been the slightest bit worried about the connection because the Chief is usually one of Amtrak's best performers. (Last time I took it we were an hour early.) I've been checking on it lately, however, and it's arrivals into LAX have frequently been hours late.

The thought of being bussed from LA to take the San Joaquin up to Sacramento to catch the CS is most definitely not appealing. The whole point of the trip was to enjoy the Coast Starlight again. I even invited a friend to join me and I've told him such great things about the scenery along the California coast.

Any ideas what's gone wrong with this route lately? Is it just the same congestion that's afflicted the Lakeshore Limited, Capitol Limited, California Zephyr, and Empire Builder?

Does anyone have personal experience with a misconnect between these trains and how it's been handled recently?
 
You might want to consider taking the Texas Eagle/Sunset Ltd. (if the Route and the 3 days a week schedule works) to LAX since it has the early arrival time into Union Station!

The SWC has traditionally had a good OTP but has suffered recently for all the various reasons that have been discussed here about other routes!

YMMV but the odds are in your favor! I've been on a late Sunset and Chief before and one time we were bused from Palm Springs to Santa Barbara to catch the Starlight and the other time a cab took us from Riverside to Oxnard to catch it!

You are correct that taking the bus/San Joaquin route through the valley to chase the Starlight sucks compared to Lunch in the PPC!!
 
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I traveled on the Coast Starlight this past July 2013 and we waited an hour so the late SWC connecting passengers could make the connection. I would not worry unless there is a multi hours delay.
 
Are you on an AGR Redemption or Fare? If on Fare (and depending on what type) you may consider taking an overnight in LA. While that may raise the Fare, it will give you peace of mind and a day to explore an interesting city.
 
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My family and I missed the connection because of a VERY late #3. We were taken off in San Bernardino and bused to Bakersfield. Took the San Joaquin train (coach) and waited at Martinez for the Coast Starlight. Was a very disappointing trip.

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Good advice, Olympian Hiawatha. Based on the recent 'lateness' of SWC, and knowing the scenery of the Santa Barbara area north+ is supposed to be awesome, I'd try to ensure I'm ON that CS out of LAUS . Will be doing just that soon, myself. Fortunately, I'll be visiting with my daughter in Riverside for a couple of days before heading north on CS - and I've decided to 'play it by ear' about modifying my SWC rez from RIV to LAUS to connect to CS. If it looks really late, I'll take a metro train from Riverside to LA. There are several early morning trains to get me there in time. And yes, I know to CALL to modify, otherwise they will cancel the whole connection to CS trip. argghhh! I will cross my fingers that your train is one of the on-time or early ones. But if you can book an overnight, you'd be almost guaranteed getting on that CS departing at 10:10.
 
Yes, this an AGR bedroom redemption, so no overnight in LA. I've taken the Chief twice before with no worries, but this summer it's really gone downhill. I'm hoping that if we end up on a bus and in coach seats instead of the first day of the CS I will be able to get some compensation from Customer Relations. But mostly I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out.

I always save my points for a big cross country train trip every summer. But I don't have the vacation days or the points to make multiple redemptions with layover nights. I know that most of it's not Amtrak's fault, but it's discouraging that travel involving connections between LD trains is so dicey.
 
Yes, this an AGR bedroom redemption, so no overnight in LA. I've taken the Chief twice before with no worries, but this summer it's really gone downhill. I'm hoping that if we end up on a bus and in coach seats instead of the first day of the CS I will be able to get some compensation from Customer Relations. But mostly I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out.

I always save my points for a big cross country train trip every summer. But I don't have the vacation days or the points to make multiple redemptions with layover nights. I know that most of it's not Amtrak's fault, but it's discouraging that travel involving connections between LD trains is so dicey.
If you are making the connection on Sunday and are not too far behind as you begin the assault on Cajon Pass, you have a decent chance since you will not be competing with Metrolink trains.

When I did this a few years ago we were well over 2 hours late leaving Victorville Sunday morning and I asked the Conductor if there was any chance of making it. He made a call saying he had a Sleeper pax needing to connect with the Starlight and moments later the Scanner came alive with the Dispatcher saying he would light the lamps Green all the way in and if our Crew throw the bags and pax off as fast as possible at the remaining couple stops he will have us into LAUS with time to spare. Sure enough he did and right next to the Starlight with 15 minutes to spare :)
 
Yes, this an AGR bedroom redemption, so no overnight in LA. I've taken the Chief twice before with no worries, but this summer it's really gone downhill. I'm hoping that if we end up on a bus and in coach seats instead of the first day of the CS I will be able to get some compensation from Customer Relations. But mostly I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out.

I always save my points for a big cross country train trip every summer. But I don't have the vacation days or the points to make multiple redemptions with layover nights. I know that most of it's not Amtrak's fault, but it's discouraging that travel involving connections between LD trains is so dicey.
If you are making the connection on Sunday and are not too far behind as you begin the assault on Cajon Pass, you have a decent chance since you will not be competing with Metrolink trains.

When I did this a few years ago we were well over 2 hours late leaving Victorville Sunday morning and I asked the Conductor if there was any chance of making it. He made a call saying he had a Sleeper pax needing to connect with the Starlight and moments later the Scanner came alive with the Dispatcher saying he would light the lamps Green all the way in and if our Crew throw the bags and pax off as fast as possible at the remaining couple stops he will have us into LAUS with time to spare. Sure enough he did and right next to the Starlight with 15 minutes to spare :)
So it was YOU who threw momma from the train! :giggle:
 
Looks like today is one of those days that a connection would be missed....
 
Today the passengers on the SWC lucked out. It looks like the held the CS since the SWC arrived in LA about 10:30.
 
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