Amtrak Cascades Service discussion

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Matthew H Fish said:
There was very cold temperatures there recently, followed by a thaw, so probably some sort of rain on snow event. Its pretty extreme and atypical weather for the region.
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Indeed! Our TV weatherfolk in Seattle were struggling to describe exactly how unusual it was--only two low temperature records, so that doesn't sound like much, but four low-high readings. More impressive. Also the second longest stretch (nearly five full days) where the temperature never exceeded freezing. Pity the weatherfolk having to research the weather records to try to come up with these!

But seriously, it was really cold, in an area that doesn't see much cold. Lots of frozen and burst pipes, including a sewage pipe in a dorm in the university I used to work for--six inches of sewage water in the rooms. :eek: We had to check up on our cross the street neighbors, who are from Sierra Leone. I brought sweaters over, and a pot of chicken soup!
 
I'll pay for business Vancouver, BC -} Seattle just to skip the customs line if I'm with my family. Assuming it isn't a 300% upcharge, of course! Generally I'm willing to do about 50% ish.
 
Matthew H Fish said:
I might be old fashioned, but spending $50 extra to get a $3 (or even $4) discount on a $6 bagel (or however much they charge now) doesn't seem like the wisest use of money! But of course, there are business travellers who have a lot more money than me.
But more relevantly, I guess I was curious, because the fact that the prices for marginally better business service are so high means that demand for the train is high.
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The part that might not be factored into the calculations are connections at Portland and Seattle. For example, if you book a Chicago to a point on the Cascades route ticket with sleeper accommodation you get Business Class automatically. Few are going to pay the upgrade to ride a short distance, however a couple of years ago I did Chicago to Tacoma and was more than happy to collect a cookie and water bottle during the short run in Talgo Business.
 
jiml said:
The part that might not be factored into the calculations are connections at Portland and Seattle. For example, if you book a Chicago to a point on the Cascades route ticket with sleeper accommodation you get Business Class automatically. Few are going to pay the upgrade to ride a short distance, however a couple of years ago I did Chicago to Tacoma and was more than happy to collect a cookie and water bottle during the short run in Talgo Business.
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Oh, that makes a lot of sense!
Actually, the only time I have ridden the Amtrak Cascades business class was for just that reason---my father had had a serious heart attack, and my mother thought I needed to have a comfortable environment when travelling from Montana to Vancouver, WA, so that is actually my only trip in a roommette on Amtrak, and now that I think about it, the reason I went to Seattle and then south. And in such circumstances, a discounted bagel was a nice comfort.
 
jiml said:
The part that might not be factored into the calculations are connections at Portland and Seattle. For example, if you book a Chicago to a point on the Cascades route ticket with sleeper accommodation you get Business Class automatically. Few are going to pay the upgrade to ride a short distance, however a couple of years ago I did Chicago to Tacoma and was more than happy to collect a cookie and water bottle during the short run in Talgo Business.
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I'm not sure that's the case anymore. It was definitely true when Amtrak Guest Rewareds used a zone-based redemption system...any Cascades leg was automatically in BC if you redeemed for a sleeper on the Empire Builder, for instance. (I don't know if that upgrade was also true when purchasing a sleeping accommodation with cash, since I never did that.)

However, nowadays, whether you purchase your ticket with cash or with points, each individual segment requires a separate decision. So it's perfectly common to buy a sleeper from Chicago to Portland and connect in coach to Eugene (for example). It's no longer automatic.

(At least, that's true when purchasing through the Amtrak website. Not sure if that's also the case when buying from a phone agent or station agent.)
 
Anyhow, as if Mother Nature had somehow sensed that this thread had gotten off-topic, there's another mudslide-induced service disruption on the Cascades, effective this morning, Jan. 24. (and presumably for the next 48 hours per host railroad protocol).

 
fairviewroad said:
I'm not sure that's the case anymore. It was definitely true when Amtrak Guest Rewareds used a zone-based redemption system...any Cascades leg was automatically in BC if you redeemed for a sleeper on the Empire Builder, for instance. (I don't know if that upgrade was also true when purchasing a sleeping accommodation with cash, since I never did that.)

However, nowadays, whether you purchase your ticket with cash or with points, each individual segment requires a separate decision. So it's perfectly common to buy a sleeper from Chicago to Portland and connect in coach to Eugene (for example). It's no longer automatic.

(At least, that's true when purchasing through the Amtrak website. Not sure if that's also the case when buying from a phone agent or station agent.)
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When you search from TAC to CHI, the price under 'private rooms' defaults to using the business class price between TAC and SEA. (see $1021 price). However, once you go to book that option it then gives you the choice of coach or business on the segment from TAC to SEA, and if you choose coach then the price of the trip drops down! (see $992 price).
Screenshot 2024-01-24 at 2.49.27 PM.pngScreenshot 2024-01-24 at 2.49.38 PM.png
 
Chris I said:
It looks like WDOT needs to work with BNSF to resolve these stability issues in Kelsey. They did a lot of work in Mukilteo and south of Seattle in the past, but I don't recall this area getting any attention.

The PDX-SEA train is only as strong as its weakest link.
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Yeah.. there has been way too many landslides in this area this winter.
 
trimetbusfan said:
Yeah.. there has been way too many landslides in this area this winter.
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Actually too many for the last century. The line from Kalama to Vancouver was built after the rest of the line, to replace the car ferry to Goble, Oregon and the area was already settled. I've always wondered whether they just were avoiding heavy construction costs by avoiding the hills and towns above the river bottom lands.

You might have noticed dairy cattle in that area. The wet, rich soil washed down is great, and cattle are portable when the water is high. The 1917 clipping ("Flood Records Are Broken") that I found tells about floods rather than landslides, but it's all part of the same problem.,

1917 12 20 Oregonian flooding.jpg
 
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Myself, and several others, got a chuckle out of what I imagine is the cheapest fare you can currently book on Amtrak---from Portland Union Station to Oregon City. The trip is cheaper, and much quicker, than trying to get to Oregon City on local transit!
More seriously, though, as the Amtrak Cascades has gotten more busy, and is sometimes booked solid, I do wonder about selling tickets for so little when those seats might be in demand for people travelling to Salem, Albany or Eugene.
 
Matthew H Fish said:
View attachment 35613
Myself, and several others, got a chuckle out of what I imagine is the cheapest fare you can currently book on Amtrak---from Portland Union Station to Oregon City. The trip is cheaper, and much quicker, than trying to get to Oregon City on local transit!
More seriously, though, as the Amtrak Cascades has gotten more busy, and is sometimes booked solid, I do wonder about selling tickets for so little when those seats might be in demand for people travelling to Salem, Albany or Eugene.
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Do they actually sell many Portland to Oregon City fares? And if you're a senior it may not be cheaper. Basic TriMet senior fare is $1.25
 
danasgoodstuff said:
Do they actually sell many Portland to Oregon City fares? And if you're a senior it may not be cheaper. Basic TriMet senior fare is $1.25
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There was a time late last year when booking this fare was only $1 (and could be brought down to .90 cents with a RPA, senior or student discount). So it definitely was cheaper than any TriMet ticket then.

With the recent fare increase, an adult TriMet fare is 2.80 now, so this would still be cheaper. (Senior fare is now $1.40).

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danasgoodstuff said:
Do they actually sell many Portland to Oregon City fares? And if you're a senior it may not be cheaper. Basic TriMet senior fare is $1.25
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I imagine that Portland to Oregon City itself is not that big of a route. The target audience is probably people in the Seattle area visiting somewhere in the Portland area, but who want a stop a little south of downtown Portland. But looking at the last year with statistics (2022, which of course is a big asterisk), it had 13,000 on/offs, which is more than Centralia, and almost as much as Kelso/Longview.
 
Matthew H Fish said:
View attachment 35613
Myself, and several others, got a chuckle out of what I imagine is the cheapest fare you can currently book on Amtrak---from Portland Union Station to Oregon City. The trip is cheaper, and much quicker, than trying to get to Oregon City on local transit!
More seriously, though, as the Amtrak Cascades has gotten more busy, and is sometimes booked solid, I do wonder about selling tickets for so little when those seats might be in demand for people travelling to Salem, Albany or Eugene.
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While this leg is getting busier, I still wouldn't say its extremely busy. I ride the Eugene leg at least once a month and I almost always will get an empty seat next to me. (except around certain holidays, then they can be more than half full).

However, 11/14 is usually full because of the through-riding passengers to/from California.
 
Coach seats south of Portland are rarely sold out. Ditto with BC when Talgo seating capacity was available. As mentioned above, the Oregon City stop is valuable for the south end of the Portland metro area.

The only restriction on sales in the Portland area is between Portland and Vancouver, WA on the Empire Builder.
 

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