by Westernstar1
mtuandrew wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2019 5:02 pm***************************************************WhartonAndNorthern wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2019 4:32 pmOr take the actual Starlight since it's probably leaving around the same timeframe. I get that the SB Starlight which starts in Seattle might be late to Oakland.Sure seems like a waste to have two trains on each other’s markers, doesn’t it? Might be an excuse for Amtrak to shift the Coast Starlight to an earlier departure time so the Amtrak California Coast Daylight can have a 10am-10pm schedule.
On the bright side UP hardly uses the Coast Sub so there won't be a fight for access. Crossing inventory for Salinas and Atascadero show only 2 switching freight movements per day.
I quite agree.
The present Starlight leaves LA at 10:10 AM. It arrives into the Bay Area (Emeryville) at 10:04 PM. Way too late, in my opinion. The arrival time for Sacramento is Midnight. What if the Starlight were to leave LA at 6 AM. The Bay Area arrival time would then be about 6 PM, and 8-8:30 PM for Sacramento. However, some would say that 6 AM is too early a departure for LA, and that you would lose passengers connecting from other train systems. Possibly some of the smaller towns, in Southern Calif. could be eliminated as stops, to allow a bit later departure time (from 6 AM) out of LA in that scenario.
Why couldn't they run the Pacific Surfliners north, from San Luis Obispo, to the Bay Area? Sort of a "new Coast Daylight". That might also allow for a more flexible Starlight schedule.
Some have suggested that the Coast Starlight schedule be kept, as is, but have the Starlight terminate in the Bay Area. Then have a new train from Emeryville or Jack London Square to PDX and SEA (A new "Shasta Daylight" ? One thing I don't like about that idea would be the very long coach ride (18 hrs to Portland), if the train started out in the morning. It wouldn't arrive into PDX until midnight or later. However, a late afternoon departure, from the Bay Area would get the "Shasta Daylight" or "Shasta Starlight" into Portland the next morning. It would need sleepers, however. Maybe even a "Pacific Parlor Car", but just a pipe dream. I would hope the new train would travel along the lower Cascades, Klamath to Eugene, during daylight hours as that is a very scenic stretch.
Western Star