California Zephyr not stopping at Salt Lake City later this year?

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mikewrite

Train Attendant
Joined
Aug 7, 2022
Messages
25
Location
North Carolina
Hi, we booked passage on the Zephyr months ago from CHI to SLC, where we will then drive up to Yellowstone. We then take the Zephyr back from SLC to CHI some days later. Today when I went to recheck our bookings, there's a red line across the top of both bookings, with a red exclamation point in it. The train-status function for that route has all dates greyed out after Aug. 11, and when I tried an attempted new test booking from CHI to SLC for a random date after Aug. 11, the Amtrak site returns, "This trip cannot be booked. We do not have any travel options between the stations entered."

What the heck?! Has Amtrak cancelled the Zephyr after Aug. 11, or cancelled its stop in Salt Lake City?
 
Hmm well the red lines and exclamation points on our trips are still there in the app, but now the website lets me try to book a test trip between those cities for later in the year. Maybe a website glitch?? My wife also spoke to an Amtrak rep who said our bookings are in the system; he didn't know what the red lines and exclamation points mean.

We are excited about this trip but very nervous too after reading so many horror-story reviews about this train on TA. Trains many hours late, cars filthy, food run out, service spotty at best. Hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.
 
As for train status being greyed out after Aug 11, they only show train statuses for a few days past the current date. On the app this morning (Aug 8), Aug 12 is not greyed out.

If you’re on Facebook consider joining the Friends of the California Zephyr group. There are knowledgeable people in that group.
 
mikewrite said:
Hmm well the red lines and exclamation points on our trips are still there in the app, but now the website lets me try to book a test trip between those cities for later in the year. Maybe a website glitch?? My wife also spoke to an Amtrak rep who said our bookings are in the system; he didn't know what the red lines and exclamation points mean.

We are excited about this trip but very nervous too after reading so many horror-story reviews about this train on TA. Trains many hours late, cars filthy, food run out, service spotty at best. Hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.
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I woudln’t worry too much. Rode the zephyr a few weeks ago. Dining car was quite well stocked with food compared to some of my previous rides on Amtrak. They did not have a cafe car attendant from CHI to DEN but they catered food for Coach passengers so they didn’t go hungry. My biggest complaint was the delay, but that was something I walked in expecting.

Attendant kept the cars quite clean the whole way. Cell service was pretty good except for parts in the Rockies. On board crew looked burned out but they were working hard.
 
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mikewrite said:
Hmm well the red lines and exclamation points on our trips are still there in the app, but now the website lets me try to book a test trip between those cities for later in the year. Maybe a website glitch?? My wife also spoke to an Amtrak rep who said our bookings are in the system; he didn't know what the red lines and exclamation points mean.

We are excited about this trip but very nervous too after reading so many horror-story reviews about this train on TA. Trains many hours late, cars filthy, food run out, service spotty at best. Hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.
Click to expand...
The train is often very late and there's no denying that - though I have personally not experienced the latter in my recent trips (cars filthy, food run out, not good service, etc.) Not saying that it doesn't happen on occasion but just sharing my experiences.
 
mikewrite said:
We are excited about this trip but very nervous too after reading so many horror-story reviews about this train on TA. Trains many hours late, cars filthy, food run out, service spotty at best. Hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.
Click to expand...
I would not pay much attention to Trip Advisor regarding Amtrak. Information here is generally much more authoritative and reliable and we are well aware of Amtrak's faults. You will not get an overly rosy picture. Many if not most here are regular riders, we are intimately familiar with Amtrak's numerous shortcomings and we are not silent about them.

With that said, pretty much expect the train to be late and be prepared to deal with it being several hours late. The diner may run out out of some items, that is fairly common, but they will not run out of food. I have never experienced a problem with a decent level of cleanliness in the restrooms in sleepers. The sleeper room may appear worn, they're old. The customer service attitudes of the OBS staff varies wildly. Most are okay if not great, some are wonderful, some are truly terrible. It is luck of the draw.
 
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zephyr17 said:
I would not pay much attention to Trip Advisor regarding Amtrak. Information here is generally much more authoritative and reliable and we are well aware of Amtrak's faults. You will not get an overly rosy picture. Many if not most here are regular riders, we are intimately familiar with Amtrak's numerous shortcomings and we are not silent about them.

With that said, pretty much expect the train to be late and be prepared to deal with it being several hours late. The diner may run out out of some items, that is fairly common, but they will not run out of food. I have never experienced a problem with a decent level of cleanliness in the restrooms in sleepers. The sleeper room may appear worn, they're old. The customer service attitudes of the OBS staff varies wildly. Most are okay if not great, some are wonderful, some are truly terrible. It is luck of the draw.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
FYI the red line and exclamation point at the top of our bookings seems to have been a glitch in the app. Yesterday I checked again; as I refreshed the screen, the words "train cancelled" appeared briefly on the red line, then the whole line and point disappeared and both bookings now appear normally.
 

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