Surfliner Dome Alert

[l]

Yes, and what's nice is that usually the extra cars are Superliner coaches!

Yes, the Superliner coaches have been there for a while (and is my favorite car to sit in unless the cafe car gets substituted). But what I'm referring to are the extended trainsets, such as the 10-car train on 785 the other day. They took the front four cars from one train set and stuck it on the back of a regular 6-car set. Two business cars, two cafe cars, and everybody with a seat. With two cafe cars, the beer did not sell out.

Someone at Amtrak in LA is finally on the ball! First, they now keep a spare engine in San Diego in case of breakdowns so they don't have to wait three hours for another to be dead-headed down to San Diego with the next Surfliner.

Second, it's long overdue that 785's consist was beefed up! That train is always packed by the time it gets to the first stop, Solana Beach. On Fridays it is a zoo, and is the train that often requires pax to stand all the way into Orange County. The benefit, as I found twice, is that the conductors don't bother to try and collect tickets because they can't move through the cars, so most everyone from Solana Beach north who boards gets to ride for free.

The potential disastrous part of this, of course, is what would happen in an emergency, who no conductor able to maneuver inside the train.

I hope Amtrak keeps the extra cars on 785 even after racing season ends at Del Mar. The students from nearby UCSD cram aboard that train every Thursday and Friday, in addition to all the day tourists going back to LA from San Diego and the regular commuters into San Diego going back.