October 7, 2006 - A Bad Day for the California Zephyr

The Coast Starlight is still being treated fairly well - delays are usually below 2 hours at the final terminus - but it may soon lose its Parlour Cars (there are rumors). But this past Saturday, the California Zephyr seems to have suffered quite a bit:

The westbound train #5 was over 15 hours late when it finally arrived in Emeryville.

The eastbound train #6 fared a little better, but was still more than 8 hours late at its arrival in Chicago.

Posted in: Uncategorized | October 9, 2006 10:56 pm

4 Comments »

Anonymous, on October 10, 2006 @ 9:51 am

I love your blog, and your Amtrak coverage, but “usually” being under 2 hours late is nothing to cheer about.

I am rail enthusiast and travel by train whenever life and business permit. Unfortunately, the “usual” 2 hour delays with low but present risks of 5 to 6 hour delays, keeps me flying on planes.

Marcel Marchon, on October 10, 2006 @ 9:55 am

I totally agree that “usually under 2 hours” is not really good at all, but compared with what it was like earlier this year, it’s at least an improvement. I fear that with the current setup of US passenger railroading - where the freight railroads own the track and the passenger trains run as a second thought - we will never have really realiable trains that arrive on-time all the time. Not without a lot of padding in the schedule that makes the travel times very unattractive in the first place.

What we need here in California is the high speed rail system - high speed, reliable passenger trains that run on dedicated tracks and on a reliable, fast schedule. I think the high speed rail system is the only way to achieve this.

Ben, on October 11, 2006 @ 5:13 pm

I’m not sure how reliable the gossip is, but I’m persuaded the parlor cars won’t be around for long. It’s too bad, because they’re really a nice bonus for sleeper car passengers. Wonder how long it will be before the sleepers are phased out…

Anonymous, on December 4, 2006 @ 2:18 pm

why don’t they just cut to the chase and cram people in box cars? no more slow-downs waiting for freight cars - just use the freight cars. Just leave some hay in there for people to lie on and put a bucket in the corner for people to take care of business. It’s the American way to run a train system!