RAILforum: Schedule Relief Ideas

This is topic Schedule Relief Ideas - Coast Starlight in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

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Posted by fubu05 (Member # 465) on :

Recently, there has been a 10MPH slow zone imposed on the route of Amtrak's Coast Starlight between Redding and Klammath Falls. This is contributing to the train being several hours behind schedule arriving at points north of and including Dunsmuir, CA.
Suggested changes:

Redding-Sacramento:
Extend San Joaquin #702 and 703 from Sacramento to Redding to provide a more reliable alternative to schedules for guests traveling to points south of Sacramento on this route.

Extend one Capitol train from San Jose to Salinas.

Extend Surfliner #765 and #794 to Paso Robles, rescheduled as follows:

#765 would depart SAN at 5:45A arriving LAX at 8:20A, departing LAX 30 minutes earlier at 8:35A. The SBA time would be 11:05A, arriving SLO at 1:35P, and into PASO at 2:25P. Train #794 would depart Paso Robles at 3:10P arriving in San Diego at 12:55A. The LAX arrival time would be at 9:55P instead of the current 9:35P. This consolidates the last two schedules of the day into one schedule, thus eliminating the need of bus #5816 to run thru to San Diego.

As for the Capitol Corrior between SJC and OKJ, a later train replacing the old slot of #14 (7:45P) arriving at 11:00P in Sacramento would be useful for the short traffic. Train #525 could run thru to San Jose at 6:20A, and the Coast Starlight could be rescheduled with additional time, putting it in Los Angeles at 3:30A the next morning. The Departure from LAX would run at 11:05A (replacing old #773's slot).

Opinions Please:
Peter

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Mark Landau

Posted by Eric (Member # 674) on :

It sounds OK, except the 3:30A arrival into LAX might be an inconvenience, especially if passengers were connecting with the eastbound SW Chief. They would have a pretty long time in LA, which might not be bad if they have the time.

Posted by fubu05 (Member # 465) on :

Atleast this suggestion reflects the actual running time of the train, and not what Amtrak thinks looks good on paper. Lately #11 has been arriving Los Angeles on average about four to six hours late, so if the extra time were added, it would be ontime more often. As for train #14, if the train were rescheduled to 11:05A out of Los Angeles, it would improve connections there from #3 and #1, by providing #1 an even three hours, and reducing the bus costs of busing guests from Ontario to Paso Robles or some other point. Train #3 would have 2 hours, 25 minutes to conenct, and remove the need to have buses standing by at SNB. Also, if you rescheduled the train to run later, it would break the connection to #28 at PDX, which is broken anyway.

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Mark Landau

Posted by Eric (Member # 674) on :

If I read Fubu05's first post right, it states a 10MPH slow zone between Redding and Klamath Falls. If my math is correct, that's about 165 miles! 165! If the 10MPH limit is over the whole distance, the Starlight would take ~16.5 hours to traverse it! This would make the train incredibly late to all points north. Are these the correct numbers?

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

I just rode the Starlight this weekend from Salinas to Salem and back. Northbound we were about 2 hr. 20 min late leaving Sacramento and about 2 hr. 40 min late at Dunsmuir. We hit the "slow orders" around the town of Mt. Shasta around 8:00am. After about 20-30 minutes of this they announced that UP had speed restrictions, and we would be going 10 MPH for the next 10 miles. There goes another hour.

After we passed the area of speed restrictions, UP had us waiting for one freight train after another. We then got stranded for an hour about 45 minutes away from Klamath Falls when the crew reached its twelve hour work limit. The replacement crew had to drive out to meet our train. We had the same Oregon crew on our return trip, and I learned from the assistant conductor that he and his comrades were ready to go out and meet the train before the crew reached its limit, but a UP dispatcher told them the train would make it to Klamath Falls in time. It wasn't until the train stopped dead that they got word that it didn't. This was certainly bad communication on somebody's part.

Once in Oregon we lost no more time, but we arrived in Salem 5-1/2 hours late.

Southbound we lost 2 hours in Klamath Falls because the replacement crew came from the northbound train and was late getting into K-Falls. They hadn't yet had its 8 hour rest period. We had to wait two hours for them to show up. Overnight we did have slow orders which they anticipated would make us at least three hours late into Sacramento, but somehow we made up some time in the Sacramento Valley and we were only two and a half hours late. By the time we got to Salinas we were three hours late.

On board, the crew and service was excellent. I'll report on that as soon as I have time.

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy