Any information on the on-time performance for the Northbound Coast Starlight?
Will be riding Thursday the 26th to Portland. Cant recall if there is track work going on.
Thanks all.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
April 21 arrived PDX at 6:10pm April 20 arrived 6:35pm April 19 arrived 11:28pm April 18 arrived 4:48pm April 17 arrived 6:15pm April 16 arrived 7:09pm
You can check future dates yourself at www.amtrak.com. Somewhere there is a site that tracks on time performance for up to three weeks back, but I don't have the link at hand. Anyone?
Posted by Beacon Hill (Member # 4431) on :
My recent trip on the Coast Starlight (southbound) was on-time from Seattle to Klamath Falls, but the road after K-Falls to Sacramento was slow, rough and needing lots of work. We were about 2 hours late by the time we got to Emeryville, which was just about what my sleeper attendant predicted. I didn't see any on-going track work between Seattle and Emeryville.
I know they did a lot of work north of Klamath Falls last year, and a lot of work in the central valley in recent years. I haven't noticed any rough riding in the central valley since then. Sleeping has been easy.
Posted by CBQ_WI (Member # 5094) on :
This this is most helpful.
Posted by PaulB (Member # 4258) on :
UP seems to be doing a lot to the CS route these days. A track work gang has been making their way south over the past few months. They were in SLO up by Cal Poly replacing ties, and other work. I saw them working at Surf (right by the Lompoc/Surf station) a few weeks ago, and on Saturday I saw them working on the siding at the Santa Barbara station. When we traveled through Guadalupe, I noticed the track is MUCH smoother. There was still the clickety-clack of jointed rail, but overall the ride was much better. A few months ago, I would have voted that stretch of track as the worst I have ever ridden on!
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
To UP's credit, it appears that they have been putting huge money into the track once they understood how bad things really were. I think when they took over the SP, they had no idea how near bled to death it had become from the previous owner. It appears to have been on the verge of complete collapse. It is simply that their first priority had to be the Sunset Route and the line up the valley to avoid complete financial collapse. Now that the double tracking west of El Paso is nearing completion we should expect to see a lot more work elsewhere.