Amtrak and CalTrains

[Bob Dylan]

According to a post on trainorders.com Amtrak has finished Second on the bid to operate CalTrains. Supposedly Herzog won the bidding (Herzog runs the Redline in Austin and various other Rail), it will be interesting to see what happens with this since California is so short of Money, wonder if Herzog will do it for cost, hard to see any profit running basically Commuter Rail! :unsure:

 

[jmbgeg]

According to a post on trainorders.com Amtrak has finished Second on the bid to operate CalTrains. Supposedly Herzog won the bidding (Herzog runs the Redline in Austin and various other Rail), it will be interesting to see what happens with this since California is so short of Money, wonder if Herzog will do it for cost, hard to see any profit running basically Commuter Rail! :unsure:

Here is more on Herzog. http://www.herzogcompanies.com/photo_gallery_transit.php

 

[cirdan]

On a related note, I wonder why Amtrak doesn't run and LD or inter city trains into San Francisco? Surely San Francisco is a prime tourist destination so a lot could be gained from running trains there directly. The buses from Emeryville or Oakland are fine but surely at least a train like the Zephyr could do with running all the way. Can Caltrains infrastructure not accept Amtrak trains?

 

[AudenHoggart]

Well, the CalTrain line from San Jose to San Francisco certainly USED to be able to handle long distance trains. This was the route of the Coast Daylight when it was a separate train (at least in pre-Amtrak days.)

On a related note, I wonder why Amtrak doesn't run and LD or inter city trains into San Francisco? Surely San Francisco is a prime tourist destination so a lot could be gained from running trains there directly. The buses from Emeryville or Oakland are fine but surely at least a train like the Zephyr could do with running all the way. Can Caltrains infrastructure not accept Amtrak trains?

 

[Tracktwentynine]

On a related note, I wonder why Amtrak doesn't run and LD or inter city trains into San Francisco?

Short answer: The Bay.

Surely San Francisco is a prime tourist destination so a lot could be gained from running trains there directly. The buses from Emeryville or Oakland are fine..

If the buses are fine, why should Amtrak spend a boatload of money to add 2 hours to people's trips? I mean, if you're going to Downtown San Francisco, you can alight from the Zepyhr and be over there on the bus in short order. It doesn't make sense for (most) people to stay on board for an extra 2 hours to take the detour through San Jose. Many of the people who board/alight at Emeryville are going to destinations throughout the Bay Area, and not specifically to Downtown San Francisco.

It would also require Amtrak to have a base of operations at 4th/King Station.

The Starlight doesn't operate via San Francisco because it couldn't continue north of the city due to the bay.

This is one instance, where I don't think getting all the way Downtown is worth it for a train. Of course, Emeryville is pretty close to the center of the region.

That being said, CalTrans has a plan to restore the Coast Daylight. That would be a day train running from Los Angeles to San Francisco (4th & King). They haven't scraped together the money yet. I believe the equipment used would be the California or Surfliner cars.

 

[had8ley]

According to a post on trainorders.com Amtrak has finished Second on the bid to operate CalTrains. Supposedly Herzog won the bidding (Herzog runs the Redline in Austin and various other Rail), it will be interesting to see what happens with this since California is so short of Money, wonder if Herzog will do it for cost, hard to see any profit running basically Commuter Rail! :unsure:

Yes Jim, they did win the contract by a wide margin . Brian the Brat,(my son) is supposed to be the new Asst.General Manager....go figure~ 34 years old. GM's were 75 or better when I came up. Let's celbrate and open up J&J's early today. Beat you to the beer box !

 

[Bob Dylan]

According to a post on trainorders.com Amtrak has finished Second on the bid to operate CalTrains. Supposedly Herzog won the bidding (Herzog runs the Redline in Austin and various other Rail), it will be interesting to see what happens with this since California is so short of Money, wonder if Herzog will do it for cost, hard to see any profit running basically Commuter Rail! :unsure:

Yes Jim, they did win the contract by a wide margin . Brian the Brat,(my son) is supposed to be the new Asst.General Manager....go figure~ 34 years old. GM's were 75 or better when I came up. Let's celbrate and open up J&J's early today. Beat you to the beer box !

Ill drink to that! :hi: A toast to Brian's promotion (he gets out of the Austin Blow Torch! :help: )and to the dad who raised him to have a Love for Railroads! Hope whoever replaces him doesnt let the CapMetro Three Stooges run the RedLine into the Ground!

 

[zephyr17]

Back in the day, SP only ran Coast line trains (Coast Daylight, Lark, Starlight, Del Monte, Coaster, etc) and the commutes into San Francisco. Everything else ran from the Oakland Mole with SP ferry connections to the Ferry Building until 1958. At that time you could actually consider the Ferry Building San Francisco's primary railroad station. After 1958 and termination of connecting ferry service, they ran buses over the Bay Bridge to the 3rd and Townsend station.

Just before Amtrak, the predecessor trains to the Coast Starlight were the Coast Daylight and the Casacade. The Coast Daylight ran into San Francisco, the Cascade ran out of Oakland. If you wanted to connect from Southern California to the Cascade, I think you had to take the San Joaquin Daylight and connect at Martinez, not the Coast Daylight.

They changed to Oakland and dropped San Francisco because Amtrak connected the two trains and ran through (at first only 3 days a week), and that was impossible through San Francisco. Other than that, the current system of bus connections is much like what SP did before Amtrak.

There never has been direct rail passenger rail service from San Francisco directly to the east, either before Amtrak or after it. SP did consider providing direct passenger service over the Dumbarton bridge and Altamont Pass, but they never did it. It just took too much time over the ferries.