Missed connection between 11 Coast Starlight and 796 Pacific Surfliner

[Mark]

I am waiting for the 11 in San Jose and have booked a connection to 796 in LA to San Juan Capistrano. Has anyone missed a connection to the last Surfliner? What does Amtrak do to get passengers to their final destination? I have an appointment to make down there at 11am tomorrow morning. Should I be worried about making it in time?

 

[oregon pioneer]

If the CS is only a little late, they will hold the Surfliner. If it is REALLY late, they will have a bus for you, and it will stop at the same Amtrak stations. They will get you there no matter what time. I got to San Diego at 4am on the bus one time (back when the CS was the "Starlate"), and I was very, very glad to have a bed to fall into.

Timekeeping has been quite good lately. Unless there is an incident of some sort (engine trouble, landslide, etc), you should be OK.

 

[Mark]

Thanks for the info. The train is 2 hours and 45 minutes late at the moment and has been getting later at each station since it left Eugene. Looks like I'll barely be able to keep my eyes open for my morning optometrist appointment. Last year I had the opposite problem; the Starlight was quite early and the Surfliner required an engine change in LA that lasted 2 hours.

 

[willem]

The south-bound Coast Starlight of Dec 22 has a BNSF leader. On the other hand, the south-bound Coast Starlight of Dec 21 also had a BNSF engine, and it did not continue to lose time.

Good luck. As oregon pioneer said, Amtrak will get you there, but perhaps with hiccups.

 

[SP&S]

I was on the CS with tickets through to SNC once and we were between two and three hours late into LAX. The last Surfliner left long before we arrived. Amtrak's communication left much to be desired but there was a bus waiting for us. And a pretty nice bus it was, making all the normal Surfliner stops. So glad to have a cell phone to call the friends waiting in Capistrano, even more glad that they were willing to pick us up in the middle of the night. Don't worry, but do be alert when you hit LAX.

 

[Mark]

We are stopped near Paso Robles for 50 minutes waiting for the 14 to pass us. Our conductor is timed out in 20 minutes and a new one is in a cab, presumably from Santa Barbara where they were scheduled to switch anyway.

 

[oregon pioneer]

We are stopped near Paso Robles for 50 minutes waiting for the 14 to pass us. Our conductor is timed out in 20 minutes and a new one is in a cab, presumably from Santa Barbara where they were scheduled to switch anyway.

Actually, I think the shift change is at SLO.

 

[willem]

About an hour ago, the status board in the Los Angeles station was still showing the Coast Starlight arrival estimate as On Time. A visitor from the UK, already unhappy about some indignities suffered at the hands of Amtrak, took a picture of the board as a souvenir.

 

[Ronbo]

We are stopped near Paso Robles for 50 minutes waiting for the 14 to pass us. Our conductor is timed out in 20 minutes and a new one is in a cab, presumably from Santa Barbara where they were scheduled to switch anyway.

So any update on how your trip ended up? I see that arrival into LAX was almost 5 hours late! By train or by bus?

 

[Mark]

The replacement conductor ended up arriving before the 14 passed us, so the conductor timing out didn't cost us any time. Before arriving at LAX, they announced that the bus would serve all connections to Pacific Surfliner stations and gave pretty clear directions from the train platform to the Amtrak bus area. The bus had been waiting for us and they made sure everyone was on with their checked baggage before leaving. The bus driver had lots of jokes during his spiel and kept most people in a good mood considering the circumstances. I ended up getting to San Juan Capistrano around 4am.