It's good to be optimistic, but the CZ has only made it to Chicago by 6pm twice since Jul 16. It got there at 6:00pm on Jul 27 and at 5:44pm on Aug 8. It's worst performance in this time frame was on Aug 1, when it was over 12hrs late. The train you'll be taking should have left Emeryville this morning at 9:15am, but for last 2 days Amtrak website says "Information Unavailable:...due to a service disruption". Hopefully everything will be OK. I'm taking the CZ next week to Chicago and the Capitol Limited to Ohio. I've been tracking the CZ performance to see what my chances were to make the 2:15 hour connection between the CZ arriving and the Limited leaving Chicago...I have a zero chance. I will accept the trains performance and go with the flow. I planned a layover for the night in Chicago, and will catch the Limited the following day. My wife and I have never been to Chicago, and am excited about little stopover. It looks like there is a lot to see and do there. Below is a portion of my tracking sheet. Have a good trip...enjoy the adventure.
Trn 6 Trn 6 Trn 6 Trn 6
3:45a Late 7:25p Late 5:44a Late 3:20p Late
SLC d Den d OMA d CHI arr
7/16 8:11 4:26 1:08 5:43 7/17 11:17 5:33 10:07 6:47
7/17 8:54 5:09 1:28 6:03 7/18 11:47 6:03 10:10 6:50
7/18 7:42 3:57 1:20 5:55 7/19 11:17 5:33 11:46 8:26
7/19 8:22 4:37 11:35 4:10 7/20 10:06 4:22 8:38 5:18
7/20 7:03 3:18 10:05 2:40 7/21 8:55 3:11 7:19 3:59
7/21 7:20 3:35 11:57 4:32 7/22 10:42 4:58 10:03 6:43
7/22 9:40 5:55 11:57 4:32 7/23 12:05 6:21 10:25 7:05
7/23 10:28 6:43 1:54 6:29 7/24 2:07 8:23 12:17 8:57
7/24 10:17 6:32 3:03 7:38 7/25 12:04 6:20 11:14 7:54
7/25 3:45 3:50 12:27 5:02 7/26 9:56 4:12 7:39 4:19
7/26 9:55 6:10 1:03 5:38 7/27 11:51 6:07 11:33 8:13
7/27 7:05 3:20 9:42 2:17 7/28 7:43 1:59 6:00 2:40
7/28 7:40 3:55 11:20 3:55 7/29 10:15 4:31 7:43 4:23
7/29 6:04 2:19 10:34 3:09 7/30 8:56 3:12 7:06 3:46
7/30 6:45 3:00 11:23 3:58 7/31 9:58 4:14 8:14 4:54
7/31 7:12 3:27 10:26 3:01 8/1 8:46 3:02 6:45 3:25
8/1 10:58 7:13 4:04 8:39 8/2 3:30 9:46 3:25 12:05
8/2 8:33 4:48 10:55 3:30 8/3 9:02 3:18 8:12 4:52
8/3 8:29 4:44 12:09 4:44 8/4 10:28 4:44 10:01 6:41
8/4 8:18 4:33 3:25 8:00 8/5 1:50 8:06 11:16 7:56
8/5 5:55 2:10 9:15 1:50 8/6 7:39 1:55 5:44 2:24
8/6 7:42 3:57 11:18 3:53 8/7 9:33 3:49 7:58 4:38
8/7 7:47 4:02 11:53 4:28 8/8 10:27 4:43 9:23 6:03