Extending CZ to Oakland/ San Jose?

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
What are the load factors on the CZ and how much would they improve by extending the train to San Jose? Would the additional revenue even approach covering 50% of the costs?
 
What are the load factors on the CZ and how much would they improve by extending the train to San Jose? Would the additional revenue even approach covering 50% of the costs?
There's a higher priority for getting one or two more daily Capitol Corridor trains to San Jose. Have fun trying to negotiate that with Union Pacific.
 
There's a fundamental error behind the original question: the assumption that downtown San Jose is a particular destination. San Jose is just one city, albeit the biggest, among many (and among many unincorporated areas) that form a continuous urban crescent from San Francisco south to San Jose, then back north to Richmond. From a tourist perspective, there's not a lot of attraction south of San Francisco. Some, but it's thin on the ground. From a business traveler's perspective, the destination could be anywhere in that crescent. Silicon Valley stretches from downtown San Francisco now, all the way down the peninsula and around back up to Fremont.

So getting off the Zephyr in Richmond or Emeryville and onto a route that'll get you where you need to be -- which might even be San Jose, but miles away from the Amtrak station -- is the smart move for nearly everybody. San Jose is at the far end of everything. Going there means backtracking on those same systems in order get where you're going. I'm an exception because San Jose is where I make connections to get home to Monterey, but there are very few who would be going or coming from east of Sacramento via train.

The need for travellers to go from Chicago, Denver or Salt Lake to downtown San Jose is near enough to zero to be reckoned as zero.
 
There's a fundamental error behind the original question: the assumption that downtown San Jose is a particular destination. San Jose is just one city, albeit the biggest, among many (and among many unincorporated areas) that form a continuous urban crescent from San Francisco south to San Jose, then back north to Richmond. From a tourist perspective, there's not a lot of attraction south of San Francisco. Some, but it's thin on the ground. From a business traveler's perspective, the destination could be anywhere in that crescent. Silicon Valley stretches from downtown San Francisco now, all the way down the peninsula and around back up to Fremont.

So getting off the Zephyr in Richmond or Emeryville and onto a route that'll get you where you need to be -- which might even be San Jose, but miles away from the Amtrak station -- is the smart move for nearly everybody. San Jose is at the far end of everything. Going there means backtracking on those same systems in order get where you're going. I'm an exception because San Jose is where I make connections to get home to Monterey, but there are very few who would be going or coming from east of Sacramento via train.

The need for travellers to go from Chicago, Denver or Salt Lake to downtown San Jose is near enough to zero to be reckoned as zero.
I've worked in and around San Jose for years. When I mention Amtrak, most think of vacations or commuting. There was one coworker who said that he was recruited out of college in the Midwest, and he took a variety of trains to get to Silicon Valley in a roomette. I think it was primarily the CZ, but he wasn't specific.

For the most part, Silicon Valley is one big suburb. San Jose has a small downtown. I suppose there is demand or I wouldn't have seen people boarding or disembarking on the CS a few times in San Jose. I do suppose there are some people who might want to take the train and there are ways like the Empire Builder to the Coast Starlight. I wouldn't say that there's zero possible demand for a CZ to San Jose, but not likely enough to justify the costs of negotiating with UP for the trackage rights as well as deal with the impracticality regarding the yard locations.

However, for most there is the airport.
 
Back
Top