When booking a north-bound trip on the Pacific Surfliner and the Coast Starlight, train 763 is the only Surfliner train offerred. It gets into LAX at 8:50am but the 14 doesn't leave until 10:25am. Any reason why I couldn't just take the later "express" train, currently numbered 599, which gets into LAX 9:35am? It would still give a 50-minute connection and (luckily) I've never been more than a half hour late into LAX on 599. Why does Amtrak do this?
Surfliner to Starlight Connection
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Mitch Evans
Guest
My wife and I just did that trip about a month ago. We rode business class on the express with all our luggage and the very kind and pleasant conductor let us keep it on the main level instead of the usual up the stairs you go. When we arrived in LA we didn't even have to go into the station the #14 was on the next track. We went down the ramp and back up the next one, they were ready to board sleepers and those needing assistance. Should work well for you! Have a great trip!
Amtrak requires a certain amount of time in order for it to be a guaranteed connection and they won't show it if it isn't a guaranteed connection; if you take the Express and miss the Starlight, you're out of luck. The Express is late pretty often, but you should be able to make it nonetheless, though it's at your own risk. They might book you for an alternate way by bus and train connections (I think you'd end up connecting at Salinas), but that's up to them and might require you to pay extra.
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NorthEncantoGirl
Train Attendant
I want to make sure I'm hearing what I think I'm hearing, because I'll be doing the same thing; going from the Surfliner to the the CS. You were able to board right away if you had a sleeper? If that's true, that's awesome.
The other option, since I can be a lazy slug, is to take an afternoon SAN-LAX run and stay overnight in LA. (LadyWidget is not an early riser, either).
We were fortunate in that we had just received enough SPG points (via a promotion) to cover the cost of a room in LA. We relaxed, strolled, had a WONDERFUL dinner at Gyu-Kaku, and were able to sleep until a reasonable hour the next morning. A 15-minute cab ride found us at LAUS in the TRAXX Club an hour prior to #14's departure time.
This scheme also gave us a relaxed evening out the night before in SD since we could awaken and pack at our leisure. Unfortunately, I don't think you could ticket it on a single itinerary. We booked an AGR award LAX-SEA and a separate award SAN-LAX. Oh well.
We were fortunate in that we had just received enough SPG points (via a promotion) to cover the cost of a room in LA. We relaxed, strolled, had a WONDERFUL dinner at Gyu-Kaku, and were able to sleep until a reasonable hour the next morning. A 15-minute cab ride found us at LAUS in the TRAXX Club an hour prior to #14's departure time.
This scheme also gave us a relaxed evening out the night before in SD since we could awaken and pack at our leisure. Unfortunately, I don't think you could ticket it on a single itinerary. We booked an AGR award LAX-SEA and a separate award SAN-LAX. Oh well.
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guest
Guest
Funny because while Amtrak's own schedule shows only 763 as a guaranteed connection, Amtrak California's spring timetable (printed by Caltrans, not by Amtrak) shows BOTH as guaranteed connections (763 plus the 599 express).
The express if on time gives you 45 minutes to make the connection, and you just go down into the tunnel from the platform and up to the next platform where the CS should be waiting (if it isn't late itself getting into the station from the yard).
But the express is usually NOT on time, and I have ridden it in the past months numerous times when passengers indeed planning to connect to the CS have sweated bullets (as in bullet train) as the time dwindled down to 10-15 minutes on certain trips.
And on the weekends when the express doesn't run, and the connection time is whittled down to 40 minutes because of the slower run, I wouldn't count on taking the later train and making the CS connection.
Bottom line: you are guaranteed the connection by Amtrak taking the 763. No matter what Caltrans would like you to believe about the punctuality of the Surfliners, Amtrak will only guarantee the 763.
I'd err on the side of caution.
The express if on time gives you 45 minutes to make the connection, and you just go down into the tunnel from the platform and up to the next platform where the CS should be waiting (if it isn't late itself getting into the station from the yard).
But the express is usually NOT on time, and I have ridden it in the past months numerous times when passengers indeed planning to connect to the CS have sweated bullets (as in bullet train) as the time dwindled down to 10-15 minutes on certain trips.
And on the weekends when the express doesn't run, and the connection time is whittled down to 40 minutes because of the slower run, I wouldn't count on taking the later train and making the CS connection.
Bottom line: you are guaranteed the connection by Amtrak taking the 763. No matter what Caltrans would like you to believe about the punctuality of the Surfliners, Amtrak will only guarantee the 763.
I'd err on the side of caution.
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