Amtrak Making Schedule Changes SW Chief and CA Zephyr

[Tennessee Traveler]

I have sleeper reservations late October and early November roundtrip on both the Southwest Chief and California Zephyr. To begin with, I received a new reservation receipt and e-ticket for train 3 simply changing the arrival time in Los Angeles 8 AM instead of 8:15 AM. The departure from Chicago remained unchanged at 3 PM. Then later I received a new receipt and e-ticket for the same roundtrip reservation changing the train 4 departure from Los Angeles to 6 PM instead of 6:10 PM and the arrival time in Chicago to 2:46 PM instead of 3:15 PM.

Now I have just received a new receipt and e-ticket for train 5 CA Zephyr changing the departure time from Chicago to 2:10 PM instead of 2:00 PM with the arrival time in Emeryville changed to 4:20 PM instead of 4:10 PM. As of now, I have not received a change to the train 6 schedule but the return schedule change for the SWC was about an hour after the change for train 3 so it is possible the train 6 schedule could be changed.

These two trains are the only one's I have confirmed reservation for the foreseeable future so I do not know if other LD trains are involved in the schedule changes.

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

 

[Thirdrail7]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

Probably so that you have updated information and don't miss your train. After all, if you were scheduled at 6:10p and showed up at 6:05p only to find out the schedule had changed and you missed the train, you'd be annoyed and inconvenienced. Same goes for the 2:00pm from 2:10pm departure.

As for time and money, it is probably cheaper (since it is an e-ticket) than paying for a stranded passenger.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

Probably so that you have updated information and don't miss your train. After all, if you were scheduled at 6:10p and showed up at 6:05p only to find out the schedule had changed and you missed the train, you'd be annoyed and inconvenienced. Same goes for the 2:00pm from 2:10pm departure.

As for time and money, it is probably cheaper (since it is an e-ticket) than paying for a stranded passenger.

I'm really more interested WHY make such incremental changes after years possibly decades of the current schedule.

 

[pennyk]

I received the email and new e-ticket today for my one-way December trip on the Southwest Chief.

 

[Thirdrail7]

I'm really more interested WHY make such incremental changes after years possibly decades of the current schedule.

Such small changes usually involve track work.

 

[TinCan782]

Got the same change (new e-ticket) on my October CHI>LAX #3 reservation - 15 min earlier arrival in LA which, doesn't really mean much since the arrival times are so highly variable anyway.

 

[JRR]

I have had two minor changes to my reservation on the CONO in July.

 

[TinCan782]

I have had two minor changes to my reservation on the CONO in July.

Yep. My new ticket on #58 in October shows a 15 minute later arrival in CHI. Received that new ticket about six weeks ago.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Amtrak changed the 6:15pm departure out of LA to 6:10pm a few months ago, so they're not really set in stone.

 

[Chey]

I've had several changes to my CONO NOL-CHI ticket in September, one change to my SWC CHI-LMY ticket. None has been more than 15 minutes. As FrensicPic notes, it's seldom rooted in reality anyway.

 

[me_little_me]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

The new Ambus they'll surprise you with is faster than the train?

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

The new Ambus they'll surprise you with is faster than the train?

Good. I'll look forward to having a sleeper roomette on the Ambus!

 

[cpotisch]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

The new Ambus they'll surprise you with is faster than the train?

Good. I'll look forward to having a sleeper roomette on the Ambus!

The Ambus roomettes are just the inside of one of the tires. It's contemporary sleeping!

 

[rspenmoll]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

The new Ambus they'll surprise you with is faster than the train?

Good. I'll look forward to having a sleeper roomette on the Ambus!

Looks like Cabin has entered a new market

/s https://www.ridecabin.com

 

[mitako]

I'm taking the Pacific Surfliner in November from Van Nuys down to San Diego, and back home a couple days later. I've received three emails and today a phone calling saying my reservation has been updated with changes and apologizing for the inconvenience. As far as I can see, there is not one single thing that has changed. Same train numbers, same exact departure times and arrival times, same stations and dates. It's puzzling.

 

[railiner]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

The new Ambus they'll surprise you with is faster than the train?

Good. I'll look forward to having a sleeper roomette on the Ambus!

Looks like Cabin has entered a new market

/s https://www.ridecabin.com

Funny. Way back in the '30's, Pickwick Stages ran "NiteCoaches" on that very route, with upper and lower berth's, a porter, and buffet aboard. It ended with the outbreak of WWII, when the government Office of Defense Transportation, made them stop it, and convert them to full seating.

 

[bpb1970]

On all my SWC and Zephyr reservations there was no changes to the car number nor roomette number - just the incremental time changes. Is anyone knowledgeable why they would go through the process on changing the schedule incrementally and spending time and money to reissue all the receipts and e-tickets for such a small change in time?

The new Ambus they'll surprise you with is faster than the train?

Good. I'll look forward to having a sleeper roomette on the Ambus!

Looks like Cabin has entered a new market

/s https://www.ridecabin.com

Funny. Way back in the '30's, Pickwick Stages ran "NiteCoaches" on that very route, with upper and lower berth's, a porter, and buffet aboard. It ended with the outbreak of WWII, when the government Office of Defense Transportation, made them stop it, and convert them to full seating.

Wow, those NiteCoaches were very cool:

 

[cpotisch]

These two really look amazing:

 

[Chey]

Good grief, that looks like Barney Fife driving the bus....

 

[me_little_me]

I'm taking the Pacific Surfliner in November from Van Nuys down to San Diego, and back home a couple days later. I've received three emails and today a phone calling saying my reservation has been updated with changes and apologizing for the inconvenience. As far as I can see, there is not one single thing that has changed. Same train numbers, same exact departure times and arrival times, same stations and dates. It's puzzling.

It might be that there were changes that affected other stations.

 

[AudenHoggart]

I had the same experience with an October reservation from Denver to Emeryville on the Zephyr. Everything was identical to the previous reservation confirmation.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

This morning I got a revised e-tickets for my November Emeryville to Chicago with no changes. Departure time in Emeryville is still 9:10 AM and arrival time in Chicago 2:50 PM. Possible changes to station arrival and departure for cities in between but that info is not shown on my e-ticket.

Also, just received a revision of my e-tickets for the late October Chicago to Emeryville changing the trip times back to the original 2:00 PM from Chicago and arrival time in Emeryville to 4:10 PM. The previous revision had been depart 2:10 PM from Chicago.