CS Connection to Cascades?

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I'm trying too get from Emeryville to Mt. Vernon, WA, but it seems I can't do so without overnighting in Seattle or Portland. If I detrain the CS in Portland, the Cascades will have left 50 minutes previously, whereas the Seattle Cascades (same train?) will have departed 1 hour and 55 minutes earlier. What a shame for those folks wanting to continue on to Vancouver or points en route. It looks like I'll have to rent a car in SEA or take Greyhound if I don't want to spend for a hotel in SEA or PDX. Does anybody have any other ideas short of flying to Bellingham (heaven forbid!)? Thanks

And by the way, looking at the (dis)connect times PDX vs. SEA, and assuming the Cascades is the same train, it would seem that the Cascades does PDX-SEA much faster than the CS. I wonder why......fewer stops? That would seem counter-intuitive.
 
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I'm confused!
wacko.gif


If you want to go north of Seattle (like to Vancouver, BC) the same day from the CS, there is a Thruway bus connection (not a Cascade train) in SEA that will wait for the CS if it is late! There are only 2 trains to Vancouver, BC - but many Thruway connections.
 
The Cascades trains use Talgo tilting trainsets which allows them to take the curves faster than the Coast Starlight's Superliner equipment.

But you're right, looking at the times, it doesn't appear that there's any way to connect from Mount Vernon at least to the Coast Starlight. As the_traveler mentioned above, there's a thruway bus to Vancouver, but it doesn't look like it stops in Mt. Vernon.

[EDIT] Based on playing around some more, it doesn't look like there's a way to connect from North of Seattle to the Coast Starlight unless your origin/destination is Vancouver, BC.
 
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Thanks for the reply. However, when I tried to book a through trip EMY - MVW, Amtrak's website wouldn't said there are connection problems and wouldn't let me do it. And booking SEA - MVW shows only one bus, which departs at 12:20pm. (By the way, this for April 19.)
 
I did some searching, and the only way to get to Mount Vernon in the late evening is to take the Greyhound bus that leaves their terminal (at the other end of downtown Seattle) at 11:40 pm for an arrival in Mount Vernon at 1:05 am. All of the other options don't run that late, unfortunately. If it were me, I'd stay in Seattle overnight and catch Amtrak Cascades 510 at 7:40 am the next day, or spend the day in Seattle and catch the Cascades 516 at 6:50 pm. Whatever you choose to do, I hope you enjoy your trip to the Northwest.
 
The Coast Starlight's schedule is also padded into Seattle with extra recovery time to account for variability in its trip from Los Angeles.

Bottom line is, you can't please everybody all the time.

In order for the Starlight to connect with the Cascades, you either have to have the Starlight leave Los Angeles earlier (jeopardizing connections with other trains on the south end, including from two other long-distance trains), or shift the Cascades to run later, which means a post-midnight arrival into Vancouver, which is undesirable for a short-distance market with only two trains per day.
 
The Coast Starlight's schedule is also padded into Seattle with extra recovery time to account for variability in its trip from Los Angeles.

Bottom line is, you can't please everybody all the time.

In order for the Starlight to connect with the Cascades, you either have to have the Starlight leave Los Angeles earlier (jeopardizing connections with other trains on the south end, including from two other long-distance trains), or shift the Cascades to run later, which means a post-midnight arrival into Vancouver, which is undesirable for a short-distance market with only two trains per day.
Another alternative would be to add a Thruway bus to/from Bellingham that connects with the Starlight. Easy fix, really. That would serve people like the OP as well as local traffic. Right now if you are in Bellingham you can't get to Seattle before 11 a.m. on Amtrak. Seems like an earlier Thruway run would be used by day-trippers as well as for CS connections. In the evening add a Thruway bus that leaves SEA around 9:15 and goes up to Bellingham. Also seems like it would be a popular option for local travelers in addition to CS connections.
 
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