Just read on another board that Northbound CS ( train 14) will have NO sleepers tommorow night....ALL coaches, NO sleepers...Hope none of you are planning a trip on the CS tommorow! Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
But on that board they do only say LAX-Oakland, which in a perfect world is not overnight. I would hope Amtrak throws in some hefty refunds and/or freebies for the unfortunates!
Posted by SunsetLtd (Member # 3985) on :
Because of a severe storm approaching the Southern California Coastline
Posted by gr8_northern_grndaughter (Member # 4217) on :
No I believe it was due to problems up north due to a mudslide out of PDX, and problems associated with the train getting out of Seattle 6+ hours late yesterday....
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
Considering how vulnerable the Coast Line has been to soggy weather events, the lack of a sleeper may be only the first problem for the near future. UP never seems to be motivated to fix track problems very quickly on this line.
Posted by MontanaJim (Member # 2323) on :
oh my, everyone must travel in coach! how will everyone survive??????????
Posted by SunsetLtd (Member # 3985) on :
They did mention a mudslide but that was about a week ago. If you look on the other board they have info about the storm. And the reason it was 6+hrs late was due to #14 arriving at about 3:30am and the crew needed 12hrs of rest.
Posted by Room Service (Member # 2405) on :
Where is this "Other Board" ?
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
Without paying to join, you can still read the current posts, but not view photos full size, post, or get into 2nd pages.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
I have suggested this in the past at other railforums, but with the continual deterioriation of the Starlight's performance, I believe it is time to consider reverting back to the SP's Coast Daylight/Cascade operation. Even if the "Cascade' schedule were to be lengthened to reflect operating conditions, a same day connection with a San Joaquin at Martinez would still be possible.
Naturally the through connection would be broken, and passengers desiring to ride the existing route end to end would be required to overnight in the East Bay area.
A "plus' would be to determine the feasability of serving San Francisco again. Lest we forget, the SF-San Jose ROW is now state owned. With the "Daylight' becoming an intrastate operation, maybe the "girlie men' might open the purse strings a bit and fund some portion of that operation.
Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :
Todays #14 is only 30 minutes late, and none of the Coast Starlights out right now are over 2-3 hours late. This could be the beginning of another Winter 2004/05. Last winter, because #11 was extremely late, they had to run a Coast Starlight with all Horizon cars (coaches and dinettes). If weg et nearly as much rain as last year here in Southern California Service north of Los Angeles will be pure buses.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
Evidently this is due to a weather related delay of #11 failing to get to LAX in time to turn it. Better to have a coach train than a motorcoach.
But there seems to be a disturbing trend in recent winters involving the Starlight route being so easily messed up by mudslides and other storm damage. Winter storms of this type are pretty routine out on the left coast, but they haven't always been a problem for the trains. Why are the tracks going out of service so often in winter lately? Is this a deferred maintenence issue, or just bad luck?
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Possibly a factor is that since the merger, there is an all UP "alt route" via the Oregon Trunk-Ogden-LA&SL (UP passenger train over such route; the "West Coast') for traffic rather than having to detour traffic over the BNSF via Bieber (GN-WP-ATSF).
Therefore, with the, albeit circuitous, alt route available over home rails, the UP simply does not have the incentive to clear the line to the same extent as did the SP.
Once again, I am compelled to remind the Forum that the Amtrak-UP contract reportedly comprises less than ONE percent of UP Total Railway Operating Revenue.
![[Mad]](mad.gif)