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Guest_shanghaiamtrak
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didnt they change the departing time for the southwest chief out of la? it seems to me that one use to be able to connect to the chief from the southbound starlight, but now cant. (on the same day)
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Guest_bradkansas
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My 2001 and current schedules have the departing time from LA as 645PM
jccollins
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Yes, it's been 6:45pm for as long as I can remember and a connection hasn't been offered to the Coast Starlight. A connection is offered to Amtrak Train 2 (the eastbound Sunset Limited sched. dep. time 10:30p), Amtrak Train 422 (the eastbound Texas Eagle sched. dep. time 10:30p), and Amtrak Train 796 (the southbound Pacific Surfliner sched. dep. time 10:10p). The Starlight is usually late arriving into LAUS though and passengers have to be taken off it before LAUS (usually around Santa Barbara and bused to Pomona, Ontario, or even sometimes Palm Springs depending on how late the Starlight is.) Otherwise Amtrak will put the passengers up in hotels if the train is too late.
A way to ***POTENTIALLY*** make a same day connection from a point north of Sacramento on the Starlight to the Southwest Chief in Los Angeles would be to detrain the Starlight at Sacramento and catch the connecting thruway bus at Sacramento (departs Sacramento at 8:00am) to Amtrak San Joaquin train 712 (from Stockton to Bakersfield), then catch the connecting thruway bus from Bakersfield to Los Angeles. This would/should get you into Los Angeles at 4:15pm, plenty of time to connect to the Southwest Chief.
The strange thing to note with the itinerary I just mentioned is that if you go to Amtrak's website and try to book this kind of trip you get a message that there is no "same day connection" but you can actually build the itinerary I mentioned through their multi-city trips page and it appears that it would be "guaranteed" since each connection would be 90 minutes or longer... (105 minutes in Sacramento, 150 minutes at Los Angeles). It would almost definitely fail though due to the Starlate's habitual lateness. Wonder how Amtrak would deal with it if someone did this...?
<_<
A way to ***POTENTIALLY*** make a same day connection from a point north of Sacramento on the Starlight to the Southwest Chief in Los Angeles would be to detrain the Starlight at Sacramento and catch the connecting thruway bus at Sacramento (departs Sacramento at 8:00am) to Amtrak San Joaquin train 712 (from Stockton to Bakersfield), then catch the connecting thruway bus from Bakersfield to Los Angeles. This would/should get you into Los Angeles at 4:15pm, plenty of time to connect to the Southwest Chief.
The strange thing to note with the itinerary I just mentioned is that if you go to Amtrak's website and try to book this kind of trip you get a message that there is no "same day connection" but you can actually build the itinerary I mentioned through their multi-city trips page and it appears that it would be "guaranteed" since each connection would be 90 minutes or longer... (105 minutes in Sacramento, 150 minutes at Los Angeles). It would almost definitely fail though due to the Starlate's habitual lateness. Wonder how Amtrak would deal with it if someone did this...?
<_<
Based on what I heard about the ticket agent at Sacramento, I don't want to know. 
steve_relei
Lead Service Attendant
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For a long time, the Chief left LA at about 8:00pm (8:30pm). There was usually a note in the timetable about dinner being served in the diner upon departure from LA.
If you know that a train is habitually late, I would suggest planning for that eventuality. Maybe you could take the Starlight as far as Santa Barbara, spend the night there, then take one of the Surfliner trains the next day into LAUPT and then onto the Chief. There is more to see and do in Santa Barbara (near the ocean beaches, nice town, etc.) than in the area around LAUPT. The main highlight is Olviera (?) Street, which is supposedly where LA began and has an old Mexican flavor to it. Very popular with tourists. Otherwise, there is not much to see anymore near the station and/or downtown. Although, you could take a train into LAUPT in the morning and take a bus tour around LA (Hollywood, etc.) and enjoy it that way.
Of course, that assumes money is not an issue. Still, when people plan trips and how much they will need for them, those are some of the conditions that have to be considered.
The same thing is true trying to connect from the Starlight to the Empire Builder. I would plan to spend a night in either Portland or Seattle and then catching the Builder the next day. Connecting from the Builder to the Starlight at Portland allows you a bit more leaway--the Builder arrives at about 10 am, and the Starlight leaves Portland at 2:25pm.
Incidentally, is there still talk about rerouting the Chief from its present Raton Pass Line to the BNSF mainline through Oklahoma and Amarillo?
If you know that a train is habitually late, I would suggest planning for that eventuality. Maybe you could take the Starlight as far as Santa Barbara, spend the night there, then take one of the Surfliner trains the next day into LAUPT and then onto the Chief. There is more to see and do in Santa Barbara (near the ocean beaches, nice town, etc.) than in the area around LAUPT. The main highlight is Olviera (?) Street, which is supposedly where LA began and has an old Mexican flavor to it. Very popular with tourists. Otherwise, there is not much to see anymore near the station and/or downtown. Although, you could take a train into LAUPT in the morning and take a bus tour around LA (Hollywood, etc.) and enjoy it that way.
Of course, that assumes money is not an issue. Still, when people plan trips and how much they will need for them, those are some of the conditions that have to be considered.
The same thing is true trying to connect from the Starlight to the Empire Builder. I would plan to spend a night in either Portland or Seattle and then catching the Builder the next day. Connecting from the Builder to the Starlight at Portland allows you a bit more leaway--the Builder arrives at about 10 am, and the Starlight leaves Portland at 2:25pm.
Incidentally, is there still talk about rerouting the Chief from its present Raton Pass Line to the BNSF mainline through Oklahoma and Amarillo?
The one thing I can think of to see in Downtown LA would be the Central Library which is very nice and can keep at least me occupied for several hours and it's close to LAUPT even better it's free. Besides that though there really isn't much to do in Downtown.
I've heard it several years ago. They decided to postpone a little longer which it was several years ago.steve_relei said:
Main reason for changing is the coal mine on the Raton Pass closed, so they no longer use the track.
Any one on up to date?
battalion51
Engineer
I think Matt might be able to help us out on this one since he works for BNSF.
steve_relei
Lead Service Attendant
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Just a point of reference:
The Spring 1995 schedule for the Chief shows the train leaving LA at 9:19pm (ie., Monday) and arriving Chicago at 3:40pm (ie.,Wednesday). The present schedule shows the train leaving LA at 6:45pm and arriving Chicago at 3:20pm. It shows that the schedule has been lengthened a bit over the past few years. There seems to be extra time going over Cajon Pass and across the Colorado-Kansas plains, etc. (I remember Amtrak not wanting to spend the money to keep the mainline up to par to be able to handle the top speeds that it and the Santa Fe once used. One of the reasons for the change in routes was the BNSF was talking about abandoning the line--at one time, perhaps not now. Another change in the schedule is the route between Chicago and Galesburg. This was before the merger between BN and ATSF; the Chief used the ATSF route from Chicago to Galesburg; now it uses the former CB&Q line and the former CB&Q station. But that running time seems a little faster than on the old Santa Fe. Another change to the schedule is the addition of Riverside (CA) as a station stop.
The Spring 1995 schedule for the Chief shows the train leaving LA at 9:19pm (ie., Monday) and arriving Chicago at 3:40pm (ie.,Wednesday). The present schedule shows the train leaving LA at 6:45pm and arriving Chicago at 3:20pm. It shows that the schedule has been lengthened a bit over the past few years. There seems to be extra time going over Cajon Pass and across the Colorado-Kansas plains, etc. (I remember Amtrak not wanting to spend the money to keep the mainline up to par to be able to handle the top speeds that it and the Santa Fe once used. One of the reasons for the change in routes was the BNSF was talking about abandoning the line--at one time, perhaps not now. Another change in the schedule is the route between Chicago and Galesburg. This was before the merger between BN and ATSF; the Chief used the ATSF route from Chicago to Galesburg; now it uses the former CB&Q line and the former CB&Q station. But that running time seems a little faster than on the old Santa Fe. Another change to the schedule is the addition of Riverside (CA) as a station stop.
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