My parents boarded Amtrak in Vancouver B.C. & were heading to San Diego to visit some friends. When they got to Santa Barbara, California, it was announced that the train wasn’t going any further. At this point Amtrak was 3 & a half hours late. A bus was called to take passengers that were going to San Diego, a 6 hour trip that ended at 3:30 a.m.
Next day they went to the depot & talked to someone at the executive office of Amtrak, as they wanted some kind of compensation for being dumped off the train & for the worrying they did before getting picked up by the bus.
On the way back my folks wound up getting a sleeper car at half price & their meals were included. Unfortunately Amtrak was 9 hours late getting into Vancouver, B.C., arriving at 5:30 a.m. not 8:30 p.m.
Folks went on to say Amtrak is always late on their west coast run & only route that is bad as BNSF & Union Pacific charge Amtrak hefty fees for using their routes. They said they were on BNSF tracks to Northern California & Union Pacific rails from there. They said they spent a fair amont of time on sidings as every frieght had the right of way.
The Starlight runs on UP tracks from Portland south. And those hefty fees are nothing compared to the revenue of the freights. As Michael says, Welcome to the Coast Starlate. I have heard some real horror stories that would make you parents journey look like nothin. At least they had heat and food. That’s not always the case. I have ridden the Starlight many times and only once did I get to my destination on time (well, close anyway.