Route 14, Actual departure

[Jake Alley]

Hi,

Does anybody have any information on actual departure times along 14, coast starlight going north? We're thinking of picking it up in San Jose, CA and getting a sleeping accomodation. The departure is scheduled for 8:39 pm. We have young children, so that time + maybe an hour is fine, but I don't want to wait around in the station with young children until 2 in the morning. Is the train fairly reliable for departure times?

I once took the central valley route from Bakersfield to SF Bay Area. That was 5 hours late and Amtrak officials appeared to think they were doing pretty well at meeting their timetable. Is that normal for trains in California?

Thanks.

Jake

 

[GG-1]

Aloha Jake Alley

I have taken the 14 Coast Starlight north a few times, it is the best train I have ridden so far. Next week I again use it to get to Emeryville to connect with the Zephyr going east. I expect it to be 2 hours late around midnight.

Hope you and the kids enjoye it the morning to Seattle is beautiful.

 

[Guest]

nothing is 'guaranteed' in life, but northbound #14 in San Jose is a reasonable choice to be within an hour of schedule at that point. Go for it.

 

[snake]

Current #14 train status for arrival at San Jose, CA, from the Amtrak website:

Estimated arrival: on time.
As of the last report at 4:21 PM, between San Luis Obispo, CA and Paso Robles, CA, it was running 6 minutes late.

 

[jccollins]

I have ridden on Amtrak's San Joaquin valley trains numerous times and can tell you that your five hour late experience is *NOT* at all normal for this route! The San Joaquin valley trains are usually right on the money, 15-30 minutes late at the very most. Of course, things do occasionally happen from time to time (broken levees, broken rails, train vs. car or pedestrian, etc., etc., etc.) but they are very uncommon along this route.

Also having grown up in the Bay Area and hearing train 14 pass by my house nearly every night (Martinez - not too far up the line from San Jose) I can tell you that this train usually falls in the 1 to 1.5 hours late time bracket. In other words, I would expect the train into San Jose anywhere from 9:30-10:00pm. It usually won't be much later than that, and you might just get lucky and catch it on time. My advice would be to check out how it has been doing on the Amtrak website's train status feature the week or so before you plan on getting on. It's not a guarantee, but the trains are usually sort of consistent one day to the next and serious delays usually repeat themself if they are occuring. Likewise, an on time train for a solid week would be a good indication of the timeliness of it the following day.

In any event, once onboard train 14 I am sure you will really enjoy the trip. It's a great train and passes through some beautiful scenery. Enjoy it if you decide to take the trip, and let us know how it goes! B)