- Joined
- Aug 3, 2023
- Messages
- 39
Hey all -
Yesterday (Jan 18, 2024) I took the Coast Starlight in coach, from LA Union Station to Emeryville. It was my first time boarding in Union Station — usually I board in Van Nuys, but this time I took the Metrolink from the antelope valley into Union station so my husband didn’t have to drive me down in rush hour traffic.
I found the signage at Union station coming off the metrolink to be poor (the map/signs only reference Amtrak buses, not trains). I opted to go to the West side, since I could see more food services there — turns out that was correct for all of the amtrak services as well. I was easily able to check my suitcase, use the restroom and grab a Starbucks coffee while I waited for boarding. For some reason they have barriers around all of the seating, and an attendant will move one for you to enter. Probably has to do with the homeless population and trying to keep the seats available for ticketed passengers. They called for boarding about 45 minutes before departure, and it was a fairly short walk to the boarding platform. I had read that it was a ”long” walk, but after a lot of train travel in Europe two years ago, I found it to be fairly minimal. All of the station staff were friendly and professional, although at times a bit vague with info. The seat assignment set up being the most ???? They told me to wait for the person call us over for seat assigments, but then that never happened. No biggie, got them at the train before boarding. Happily I got a left side, forward facing window seat and was able to enjoy the seaside views.
Much of the trip the car was sparsely populated, until about San Jose. I did get the two seats to myself the entire time I was aboard. I was careful not to spread out though. Several others seemed to feel the empty next to them was free game for them to spread, and the attendant had to tell people all day long to move their stuff. Other than the usual overly loud (or tmi on their phones) passengers it was a very smooth trip. We were delayed out of Union station while waiting for the Southwest Chief to arrive— seemed there were a lot of transfer passengers that needed to board the CS. We also randomly stopped a few times along the way, but managed to make up most of the time and we arrived in Emeryville at about 9:45pm (with no station announcement — almost didn’t get off because I thought it was another random stop—fortunately I went down to wait by the door and then realized we were already there). Every other station had a 10 minute “get your stuff together) warning announcement, along with an actual stop announcement and reminder not to get off unless it’s your destination station. So definitely one needs to be paying attention.
The dining car did take reservations for coach passengers -I had brought my food, so didn‘t dine, but was happy to see that option has returned.
Yesterday (Jan 18, 2024) I took the Coast Starlight in coach, from LA Union Station to Emeryville. It was my first time boarding in Union Station — usually I board in Van Nuys, but this time I took the Metrolink from the antelope valley into Union station so my husband didn’t have to drive me down in rush hour traffic.
I found the signage at Union station coming off the metrolink to be poor (the map/signs only reference Amtrak buses, not trains). I opted to go to the West side, since I could see more food services there — turns out that was correct for all of the amtrak services as well. I was easily able to check my suitcase, use the restroom and grab a Starbucks coffee while I waited for boarding. For some reason they have barriers around all of the seating, and an attendant will move one for you to enter. Probably has to do with the homeless population and trying to keep the seats available for ticketed passengers. They called for boarding about 45 minutes before departure, and it was a fairly short walk to the boarding platform. I had read that it was a ”long” walk, but after a lot of train travel in Europe two years ago, I found it to be fairly minimal. All of the station staff were friendly and professional, although at times a bit vague with info. The seat assignment set up being the most ???? They told me to wait for the person call us over for seat assigments, but then that never happened. No biggie, got them at the train before boarding. Happily I got a left side, forward facing window seat and was able to enjoy the seaside views.
Much of the trip the car was sparsely populated, until about San Jose. I did get the two seats to myself the entire time I was aboard. I was careful not to spread out though. Several others seemed to feel the empty next to them was free game for them to spread, and the attendant had to tell people all day long to move their stuff. Other than the usual overly loud (or tmi on their phones) passengers it was a very smooth trip. We were delayed out of Union station while waiting for the Southwest Chief to arrive— seemed there were a lot of transfer passengers that needed to board the CS. We also randomly stopped a few times along the way, but managed to make up most of the time and we arrived in Emeryville at about 9:45pm (with no station announcement — almost didn’t get off because I thought it was another random stop—fortunately I went down to wait by the door and then realized we were already there). Every other station had a 10 minute “get your stuff together) warning announcement, along with an actual stop announcement and reminder not to get off unless it’s your destination station. So definitely one needs to be paying attention.
The dining car did take reservations for coach passengers -I had brought my food, so didn‘t dine, but was happy to see that option has returned.
