Hello

Good morning all. Just quick hello since I’m new here. Also hoping someone can answer a question for me. I am taking the California Zepher in May to Sacramento to catch the Coast Starlight to Seattle. According to the schedule, I should get into Sacramento at 3:05 p.m. The Starlight should pull into Sacramento at 11:49 p.m. Now we all know that the C. Z. is notorious for running late. Because there is a window of at least 8 hours between my arrival and departure times, I’m hoping to be able to not have to get a hotel room In Sacramento. My question is has anyone here done this transfer? Am I crazy for taking the chance of the C. Z. being more than 8 hours late and not making my connection? Thanks!

Welcome! Glad you're here.

https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php
I like to use Juckins's website for tracking delay history. Put in your train number (#5) and station (SAC) and you can see how often in the past few months the train has been late. Looks like in the past month there's only been two times it was over 8 hours late.

Also worth noting that if you booked the CZ and CS in one itinerary, it's a guaranteed connection and Amtrak will find you the next train (or book a hotel for you) in a worst case if you miss it.

Hi Chris, As I understand it, you know the likelihood of actually *missing* the northbound Starlight is very low, it's more a case of it's being late to Sac'to, to the point where you won't want to sit up and wait for it. Yes, that can happen, but usually won't. Some people stay on the westbound CZ to Martinez, and change there, so they can get on the Starlight a little earlier - but that's not one of those guaranteed connections like Sac'to. You could, as a separate issue, book the round trip from SAC to MTZ - people do it, and then just cancel if you can see that it's either not going to work (CZ is late) or not be necessary (Starlight running on-time). You can use https://asm.transitdocs.com/ to keep track of train status as you travel.

But I've done that transfer once, and I just gritted my teeth and waited up for the Starlight. There isn't much to do in that neighborhood after about 9pm. I dragged out my dinner in Old Town Sac'to about as long as I decently could, then went back to the station to wait. You should be prepared to be entertained by people watching - you'll have plenty of company in the station. We had some excitement because a waiting passenger had a medical event, not too serious, but enough to call a team to take him in for observation. Our Starlight was a little late (like 30 minutes, or so), which made falling into bed in my roomette all that much sweeter.

For your entertainment, here's the last month of northbound departures for train #14 in SAC. It seems to have deteriorated since I made this connection. Consider your options - and good luck!

I've made that connection several times with no problem. Last time was two years ago, and the Zephyr was 3 1/2 hours late into Sacramento, still all the time in the world to enjoy a good dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and a leisurely stroll around Sacramento's Old Town before going the station to wait for the northbound Starlight.

I've made that connection several times and sometimes people who had met on the train took turns watching stuff for each other. Regional trains come and go and that provides human interest and railfan interest for some until about 9 p.m. Others head to Old Town or nearby Chinese restaurants. I've never had a misconnect, but it's best to look up recent experience, as indicated above.

2023