Train from LA to San Diego

Hi, I wanted to ride all the way from San Francisco to San Diego but do not seem to be able to find a train that would do that. Can anyone help me? Thank you so much. Bee Lady

BeeLady said:

Hi, I wanted to ride all the way from San Francisco to San Diego but do not seem to be able to find a train that would do that. Can anyone help me? Thank you so much. Bee Lady

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There is no single train that does that. You would have to change trains in LA at minimum.

While the connection between the Coast Starlight and the last Pacific Surfliner is valid and guaranteed (it shows as a connection from Seattle to San Diego), it does not show as an option from San Francisco or Emeryville. Since the connection between 14 and 794 is guaranteed, I would use Multi-City and book San Francisco (if you are actually starting in The City itself) or Emeryville and Los Angeles as one segment and LA - San Diego on 794, leaving at 10:10 pm, as the second segment.

The options SFC-SAN presented by the website are either a bus to Santa Barbara, then a Surfliner train, or using the San Joaquin to Bakersfield, a bus to LA, and a Surfliner to San Diego. But since the website shows SEA-SAN with a guaranteed connection between 14 and 794, I think it is all right to force 14 to 794 from San Francisco/Emeryville to San Diego using Multi-City.

You can't do it with one train. Best you can do, theoretically, is three trains from the peninsula: Caltrain to San Jose, the Coast Starlight to Los Angeles, and a Pacific Surfliner to San Diego. This would be an Amtrak ticket and a Caltrain ticket, and I'm not sure that I'd be keen on doing that all on the same day in case Caltrain has problems or if the Coast Starlight is way late into Los Angeles.

Otherwise they'll be a bus in the itinerary somewhere.

Unfortunately I can't seem to book from San Francisco (SFC) to SAN using one bus to Emeryville, then two trains. I can book Emeryville (EMY) to SAN using the Coast Starlight; that'll be the 8:39am departure labeled "Multiple Trains". You may want to call in and see if someone can book a connecting bus to add to that itinerary.

Your comfortability with buses and train amenities may be the deciding factor. If you are okay with a three-hour bus, it appears you can book via Richmond (RIC) to San Diego and use the San Joaquins. In that case, the Richmond BART station is co-located with the Amtrak stop. But otherwise it looks like a long bus ride down 101 to Santa Barbara.

Just for giggles, I looked up a possible same-day all-train trip from San Francisco proper to San Diego, using a weekend schedule:

Caltrain 224 from San Francisco (4th/King) to San Jose Diridon - departs 8:22am, arrives 10:10am (first train of the day)
Amtrak 11 (Coast Starlight) from San Jose Diridon to Los Angeles Union Station - departs 10:26am, arrives 9:11pm
Amtrak 794 (Surfliner) from LAUS to Santa Fe Depot - departs 10:10pm, arrives 1:04am next day (last train of the day)

So 16 minutes to connect at San Jose Diridon, then 59 minutes to connect at LAUS. They're same-station transfers, maybe even cross-platform, but the only guarantee is that you're in the same station for the transfers.

Non-holiday weekdays are slightly better in that you can leave on or before 8:25am on Caltrain and give yourself extra time at Diridon. There's an 8:37 train (all local) that arrives at 10:16am, which would cut it very fine at Diridon - but at least that would be an escape valve in case you don't make an earlier train. You would have no such luck on weekends or holidays, and there's no way of escaping the Coast Starlight or the last Surfliner of the day.

I'm not a YouTube rail/travel vlogger doing a timetable challenge, but I might be masochistic enough to try it as someone who appreciates rail travel. I'd definitely have a plan B or C handy though.

Adding: I looked at the reverse - San Diego to San Francisco - and I would feel more comfortable doing that. Leave Santa Fe Depot at 6am, have about an hour to transfer at LAUS, and arrive San Jose at 7:46pm. If you arrive a few minutes early on a weekday non-holiday trip you might make the limited-stop Caltrain departing San Jose at 7:41pm, but otherwise you can take an all-stop local until the last one departs at 11:12pm. That would provide about a 3-1/2 hour buffer from being stuck in San Jose all night.

Thank you all. I've decided to take the early morning train from Emeryville to Los Angeles on Nov 2, spend the night there and do a bit of sightseeing and then push on to San Diego later in the day on Nov. 3.

BeeLady said:

Thank you all. I've decided to take the early morning train from Emeryville to Los Angeles on Nov 2, spend the night there and do a bit of sightseeing and then push on to San Diego later in the day on Nov. 3.

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First train out of Emeryville southbound in the morning is a San Joaquin at 7:46 am. That puts you in Bakersfield at 1:57 with a bus to LA arriving at 4:35 pm. That routing will go through the San Joaquin Valley, missing the coastal running entirely.

zephyr17 said:

First train out of Emeryville southbound in the morning is a San Joaquin at 7:46 am. That puts you in Bakersfield at 1:57 with a bus to LA arriving at 4:35 pm. That routing will go through the San Joaquin Valley, missing the coastal running entirely.

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Hey, 8:30 is early for some people (the time 11 comes in to EMY). They didn't say the first train, so I think they're on #11.