We boarded the Sunset Limited last Sunday in Los Angeles at about 21:30. The SL was scheduled to leave at 22:00 however we were delayed waiting for the Coast Starlight which was running late. The CS eventually arrived at 01:45 Monday (over 4 hours late) and, in turn the SL departed over 4 hours late at 02:18. The SL continued to lose time and eventually got to San Antonio over 5 hours late at 10:35.
Next, the Texas Eagle that was scheduled to leave San Antonio at 07:00 waited for the SL and finally departed over 4 hours late at 11:25. It also continued to lose time and eventually got to Chicago over 7 hours late at 21:14.
Now here is my take on this whole situation. I am guessing that Amtrak waited for very late CS and SL trains so that they would not have to deal with missed but guaranteed connections. Perhaps rather than incur the cost to reschedule connecting passengers, Amtrak chose to make passengers on SL and TE later than they would have if their trains started from LAX and SAS on time. This would have a tendency to create even more “never again” passengers.
Someone recently stated on another thread that it cost more to acquire a customer than to keep one.
Maybe Amtrak should not have held the SL for 4 hours and 18 minutes and the TE for 4 hours and 25 minutes. IMHO, this was beyond reasonable.
Next, the Texas Eagle that was scheduled to leave San Antonio at 07:00 waited for the SL and finally departed over 4 hours late at 11:25. It also continued to lose time and eventually got to Chicago over 7 hours late at 21:14.
Now here is my take on this whole situation. I am guessing that Amtrak waited for very late CS and SL trains so that they would not have to deal with missed but guaranteed connections. Perhaps rather than incur the cost to reschedule connecting passengers, Amtrak chose to make passengers on SL and TE later than they would have if their trains started from LAX and SAS on time. This would have a tendency to create even more “never again” passengers.
Someone recently stated on another thread that it cost more to acquire a customer than to keep one.
Maybe Amtrak should not have held the SL for 4 hours and 18 minutes and the TE for 4 hours and 25 minutes. IMHO, this was beyond reasonable.