How much do departure and arrival times figure in your Amtrak trip planning?

[Joe from PA]

For every long distance trip, I tell the person meeting us, "I'll let you know how late we're running".

 

[tricia]

The north midnight departure from ATL might be the worse biggest city scheduled departure of any LD train.

Made even more inconvenient by the Crescent's late arrival into DC, now well into the afternoon rather than mid-morning.

 

[BCL]

I'm going on a trip to LA Union Station on the Coast Starlight, and frankly the late arrival is putting a crimp in the plans. I was thinking of perhaps choosing a faster train-bus combo, but I kind of want to ride the train and not a bus more than I have to. As it stands I'm already planning on riding a lot of buses on this trip, so 12+ hours on a train is fine. However, I was looking at getting there are 4:30 instead of 9, which would give more time in LA.

 

[Bob Dylan]

A

I'm going on a trip to LA Union Station on the Coast Starlight, and frankly the late arrival is putting a crimp in the plans. I was thinking of perhaps choosing a faster train-bus combo, but I kind of want to ride the train and not a bus more than I have to. As it stands I'm already planning on riding a lot of buses on this trip, so 12+ hours on a train is fine. However, I was looking at getting there are 4:30 instead of 9, which would give more time in LA.

As you know, you can take one of Several of the San Joaquin Trains ( the Starlight gets into SAC Early in the AM if on time) from Sacramento thru Stockton,Fresno to Bakersfield where you transfer to an Amtrak Thruway Bus to LAX ( an Easy trip)arriving much earlie,r but missing the nice Scenery along the Coast.

 

[tricia]

I'm going on a trip to LA Union Station on the Coast Starlight, and frankly the late arrival is putting a crimp in the plans. I was thinking of perhaps choosing a faster train-bus combo, but I kind of want to ride the train and not a bus more than I have to. As it stands I'm already planning on riding a lot of buses on this trip, so 12+ hours on a train is fine. However, I was looking at getting there are 4:30 instead of 9, which would give more time in LA.

If you have the time for it, consider stopping for the night somewhere north of LA (Santa Barbara?) then continuing on the coastal route in a Surfliner the next morning.

 

[dlagrua]

Much of the time we have traveled West from PHL to Whitefish, Denver, Omaha, Seattle and Kansas City. A few times we traveled to FL on the Autotrain and once on the Crescent to New Orleans. Our trips usually start from PHL and WAS (via PHL) and have all been daylight departures. It could be Cardinal or NR/Capital Ltd to Chicago and then head West on the CZ, EB or SWC. Returning we seem to have early morning departures 5am - 7am. Only once did we depart at an ungodly hour of 5 AM and that was CHI-PGH.
We prefer the Cardinal for 2 train trip convenience but don't often catch the three day a week schedule. The CL is preferable if you want a bedroom ( more choices) as the Cardinal only has two and one H room.

 

[BCL]

If you have the time for it, consider stopping for the night somewhere north of LA (Santa Barbara?) then continuing on the coastal route in a Surfliner the next morning.

The big problem with Santa Barbara is that the price of accommodations is just through the roof during summer. Even a Motel 6 wants about $300 a night.

I actually ended up cancelling our planned trip this weekend because of illness (just a cold, but it's not going to be OK by this weekend). Ate the AGR points penalty, but it wasn't that bad and I hadn't booked a room in LA anyways.

Right now I'm looking at alternate ways to get there, including bus/train overnight, where we would leave the previous day and then have more or less a whole day in LA. Also - the prices seem to be more or less fixed, so I'm not looking at the vagaries of bucket pricing. I booked the Coast Starlight going down because the cost was really low, but the next week, same day is about double the points cost.

 

[west point]

Any north bound Crescent departure from ATL will take some maneuvers on my part. Midnight Hour drive or later from station not possible for someone to drive me. No public transportation that hour. .Maybe take Crescent to BHM and catch it back going north. Now aint that nuts?

Coming from NOL?? Hate to think of doing it in reverse by way of CLT or Greenville.

 

[TheCrescent]

I usually take the Lake Shore Limited that departs from Chicago Union Station at 9:30 pm. I like this train because you sleep on it immediately upon boarding and get into NYC refreshed and quicker.
But there is a Cardinal that leaves at 5:55 pm but gets into NYC at 10:30 or later. You stay awake until after dinner then go to sleep but you have a whole day before you get into NYC.
Which should I take? I have never been on a Cardinal before.
How much does departure time figure into your trip? Arrival time?

I’m a morning person so an early arrival or departure is fine.

I’ll take the southbound Crescent, since it arrives before dawn. Perfect!

I won’t take the northbound Crescent since it leaves in the middle of the night

Amtrak long distance trains should be timed to leave major metros in the evening and arrive in the morning, as much as possible.

 

[west point]

Amtrak long distance trains should be timed to leave major metros in the evening and arrive in the morning, as much as possible.

The south bound Crescent at ATL meets that metric. However, northbound no way. As posted elsewhere ATL becomes the highest population metro area in the US with LD service that does not meet that metric northbound.