From Jan 8 2016 - March13, 2016 the Sunset / Eagle is leaving LAX at 4 PM (1600) and arriving New Orleans at 1600 (4PM). Departures of connecting Eagles still leaving at 0700 at San Antionia (SAS). That is going to be a long layover for those passengers. 2200 - 0700.
There goes any connection from Startlight southbound to Sunset.
This may mean day time track work either Maricopa - El Paso and / or SAS - Beaumont. Any one have some more information ?
KP maybe you can get some pictures of Eastbound Sunset going over Colton ?
West bound Sunset leaves NOL Jan 13 - Feb 24 leaving at 1030. Arrives only 36 minutes late SAS and leaves SAS on time.-
Amtrak sent me the message a couple days ago. I'm scheduled to leave LA in late February on the Texas Eagle, but with it leaving earlier now, I have to look at other options for getting home. The original timing provided just the right amount of time to get from my conference to the train station.
Where this really bites is that the Sunset/Eagle only runs 3x week, so it's not like I just catch the train a day later.
CJtrainguy Where this really bites is that the Sunset/Eagle only runs 3x week, so it's not like I just catch the train a day later.
No way to run a railroad. A train 'service' only three days per week is not transportation. It's just a land cruise for various people who don't care about time and like riding a train.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
I don't have the data, but I suspect there aren't enough surplus Superliners anywhere in the system to make the Sunset a daily train. As I recall, at one time there was a proposal to combine the Sunset and the Eagle on a daily basis and put a new single level train on the eastern portion of the Sunset route. Assuming you could do some interior cleaning on the Eagle at San Antonio, that made sense to me.
UP threw out some number with a whole lot of zeros as their price to permit daily operation of the Sunset -- I think they were looking to double track clear to Hawaii, but presumably there was negotiating room in that.
The new train would have a 573 mile run, which if I understand the rules correctly, means it could be done without state support. However, I think any changes not on the NE corridor are going to have to be post-Boardman.
Several years ago when the Sunset schedule was changed, there was an agreement that Amtrak wouldn't pursue making it a daily train for 2 years. Those 2 years are up. I'd love to see new talks between UP and Amtrak towards that goal. I really think track space is a bigger issue than lack of a few cars to build additional trains at this point.
Still, if you look at it as "the glass is half full" instead of "half empty", it's better to have service on a line 3 days a week than not at all.
Looking at fare availability a few months out suggests that there are plenty of people who want to ride even at 3x a week. Daily should bring more people.
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