RAILforum: My Big Trip Part II

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Posted by Rheboi (Member # 2994) on :

Hello again and thank you to all who responded to my questions. I have one more and thought they might get lost in the original thread so I'd start another. I hope this is not against the way the forum rules are.

Anyway my question is after my journey from LA to Chicago there is approx a 4 hour wait. If my train is late as 5 hours late what happens then?

My plans get me into Montreal on Friday night but I have to be there Saturday. Would Amtrak provide a means of catching up to the missed train or would it mean I have to wait No. of days till the next train comes through? And if so do I get accomodation provided for the period off the train?

Thanks in advance

Posted by jp1822 (Member # 2596) on :

You have a guaranteed connection from the Southwest Chief to the Lake Shore Limited, so if the Chief is late, they will either hold the Lake Shore Limited, bus you ahead, or accommodate you for the evening. There are trains daily from Chicago to the East Coast, however, departures are after 5 p.m. As someone else noted on your other post, your connection in Schenctady to the Adirondack is not guaranteed, so have a backup. If the connection is missed, you'll probably get you money back, but on your own. Could always overnight in Schectady and catch the Adirondack the following day to Montreal. You have a great trip ahead so enjoy!

Posted by Rheboi (Member # 2994) on :

Thankyou JP1822. It's reasurring to see that I have a guaranteed connection to one of the trains.

If however I miss the trip to Canada it will be disaster city as I need to be in Montreal Sat night. I think I'll check out bus trips and see if there's one that would get me to Montreal if I miss the train connection.

Posted by jp1822 (Member # 2596) on :

You should be able to find a bus from Schenectady or Albany to Montreal, but only use it as a backup, as the Adirondack is a great ride!

Posted by Ken V (Member # 1466) on :

I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that when Amtrak allows you to book a through trip on connecting trains all connections are guaranteed.

Using Amtrak's website I tried to check on travel from L.A. to Montreal on a weekday and was refused. Although the schedule at Schenectady from the LSL to the Adirondak on train 69 allows for a 1h20m connection, that's too close to guarantee. The weekend schedule for Adirondak train 71 offers a 2h50m difference that the website did allow.

Not that this matters since Amtrak may only offer overnight accomodation at Schenectady plus travel on the next day's train which would be too late. There was also an option of taking the Texas Eagle out of L.A. and arriving one day later, also too late.

quote:
Originally posted by Rheboi:
My plans get me into Montreal on Friday night but I have to be there Saturday.

Rheboi, you might want to double check this. Train 71 only runs on Saturday/Sunday and one of your previous messages mentioned that was your train.

Posted by Rheboi (Member # 2994) on :

Thanks Ken V for spotting my mistake, I got confused a bit. I have to be in Montreal Saturday, get a good nights sleep and the main event I'm going for is on Sunday.

Service 71 on Saturday will be ok if I catch it, or should I say if Amtrak get me there on time!!

It's interesting you were not allowed to check the week day timetables as I just checked and was given 3 alternate trips, they did not say what train but gave "service No.s"

Trip 1 being: Services 4-48-71
Trip 2 being: Services 4-448-71
Trip 3 being: Services 422-48-71

I am now in the process of making a plan B.

I have been told that planes fly out of New York to Montreal every hour so If I miss my train, maybe I can get a flight.

If the planes are all fully booked for Saturday, maybe then I can get a bus. The only bus Company I know of is Greyhound so I should check them and see if I can find any other bus companies that service a New York to Montreal route.

Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :

The "service number" is the train number. Download the printable timetables from Amtrak's website and it'll give you the train numbers on there.

4 - Southwest Chief
48 - Lake Shore Limited (to New York)
448 - Lake Shore Limited (to Boston) - same train as 48 but it divides in Albany, NY
422 - Texas Eagle
71 - presumably this is the Montreal service.

Geoff M.

Posted by Rheboi (Member # 2994) on :

Thanks Geoff the 71 is to Montreal....