This is a real comfortable place. I think it was real professional. It was my first time riding the Coast Starlight. No 2nd or 3rd time.
The Coast Starlight is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. It runs from Seattle, Washington to Los Angeles, California via the San Francisco Bay Area. The train was the first to offer direct service between the two cities. Its name is a combination of two Southern Pacific Railroad trains, the Coast Daylight and the Starlight. The train has operated continuously since Amtrak's formation in 1971. Unique among Amtrak's long-distance trains, the train features a Hi-Level lounge for sleeping car passengers named the "Pacific Parlour Car."
History
Background
Before the formation of Amtrak, no one passenger train ran the length of the West Coast. The closest equivalent was SP's West Coast, which ran via the San Joaquin Valley from Los Angeles to Portland, with through cars to Seattle via the Great Northern Railway.[2] The SP had the Coast Daylight between Los Angeles and San Francisco and the Cascade between Oakland and Portland. The SP also ran overnight trains between Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay area - the all-sleeping car Lark on the coast route and the mixed coach and Pullman Owl on the San Joaquin Valley line. Service from Portland north to Seattle was provided by the Union Pacific, Northern Pacific Railway or Great Northern Railway. In 1970 the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific were merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad, which continued to provide service. Trains south from Los Angeles to San Diego were the Santa Fe's San Diegans.
Operation
With the start of Amtrak operations on May 1, 1971 a single train began running between Seattle and San Diego. The unnamed train ran three days a week; on the other four days (northbound Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; southbound Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) another unnamed train ran between Oakland and Los Angeles (initially 98 northbound and 99 southbound). On November 14 Amtrak officially dubbed this dual operation as Coast Daylight-Starlight and extended the former Coast Daylight 's southern terminus from Los Angeles to San Diego. The Los Angeles-San Diego through-running ended with the June 11, 1972 timetable change, replaced by a third San Diegan.[3] In June 1973 Amtrak began running the combined Coast Daylight-Starlight daily. Positive response led to Amtrak to retain this service, and the Coast Daylight name was dropped on May 19, 1974.[4]
With the November 10, 1996 timetable change Amtrak added through coaches between Seattle and San Diego attached to the last Amtrak San Diegan train of the evening (#511).[5] They were coupled onto the first morning train back to Los Angeles where they were re-coupled to the Coast Starlight to Seattle.[6] This was discontinued with the October 26, 1997 timetable change because of train 11's poor timekeeping. Instead, if train 11 arrives at Los Angeles prior to the final Surfliner departure, through passengers to Orange County and San Diego will take the connecting Surfliner train, otherwise passengers will ride a bus (the motor coach option occurs more often than the train).
Ridership declined by 26% between 1999-2005 as freight congestion and track maintenance on the Union Pacific Railroad reduced the Coast Starlight 's on-time performance to 2%, which Amtrak characterized as "dismal." By mid-summer in 2006 delays of 5-11 hours were common. Critics dubbed the train the Star-late.[7] During early summer 2008, the Coast Starlight was relaunched with new amenities and refurbished equipment. In July 2008, the Pacific Parlour cars had been refurbished and were back in service as part of the relaunch. This was much anticipated, due to the success of Amtrak's "re-launches" of the Empire Builder. Between FY2008 and FY2009, ridership on the Coast Starlight jumped 15% from 353,657 passengers to 406,398 passengers.[citation needed] Operating conditions on the UP improved as well; by May 2008 on-time performance had jumped to 86%. read more