Passenger Trains > What Happens If You Miss An Amtrak Connection Due To A Late Train

My wife and I are thinking about a cross-country trip with sleeping car accommodations from Sacramento to Washington DC.  There is a three hour and 50 minute window to make the connection from the California Zephyr to the Capitol Limted in Chicago.  What happens if the Zephyr is five hours late into Chicago?  The idea that Amtrak would have spare sleeper capacity to put us out on the next day’s Capitol Limited seems dicey.   

Thanks in advance for your advice.  

Several things could happen.
Depending on how late the CZ is they may hold the train for you.

They may also put you on the Lakeshore or Cardinal (both leave later than the Limited I believe).

They could put you up at a hotel overnight and send you on the next days train.

Posted from Android

Or you can do option B and plan to stay a night in Chicago. Nice normal sized bathroom and a chance to do a bit of sightseeing or fine dining.

Never, Never, Never put your trust in Amtrak connectivity. Spend the day in Chicago one of the best places to enjoy the hobby. There's the Museum of Since and Industry, plenty of top model train shops, the Chicago Architectural Cruise is not to be missed, plenty of train photo locations and great restaurants, too. From my experience as a former Amtrak Ticket Clerk though, Amtrak will most likely put you up in a hotel if the CZ is late, or re-book you on another train or on a plane, if there is no space! 

On our first EB Zephyr trip several years back, one of the couples we had spent time with was connecting to the Capitol. We were a bit late getting into Chicago and cutting their connection pretty close.  They were experienced enough to have talked with our conductor, who radioed ahead to have one of the on the ground staff, walk them thru to their train which they caught with minutes to spare.  They were really nervous the last couple hours of our trip which is not a fun feeling.   

A few years later, DH and I did a same day connection from the LSL to the Zephyr.  We made it with few hours to spare which gave us time to grab lunch in town versus the station. It's a bit nervewracking to time things that close with Amtrak unfortunately, and thus I agree with other posters and don't recommend doing it.  Plus, there's lots of things to do in Chicago and of course, deep dish pizza!

RRBaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never, Never, Never put your trust in Amtrak
> connectivity. Spend the day in Chicago one of the
> best places to enjoy the hobby. There's the Museum
> of Since and Industry, plenty of top model train
> shops, the Chicago Architectural Cruise is not to
> be missed, plenty of train photo locations and
> great restaurants, too. From my experience as a
> former Amtrak Ticket Clerk though, Amtrak will
> most likely put you up in a hotel if the CZ is
> late, or re-book you on another train or on a
> plane, if there is no space! 
I  totally agree with your advice to spend the day in Chicago. Don't trust Amtrak to come up with one of their creative ideas to get you to Washington D.C. I have experienced everything from a long bus trip to a 200 mile taxi ride. On some of those trips they basically stated, take it or leave it and that I could apply to Amtrak for a partial or complete reimbursement.

I dont think much of the intentional 1 day stayover plan. 
It assumes you just have and extra day to add on to a multi day cross country trip.
It adds significant expense when you start adding up cab or Uber, downtown hotel, cab to museums, dining, and museums are no loger cheap assuming that is even your thing.  Of course you could just sleep in at hotel,, eat at Mc Donald's,  walk around a little and go to station, sounds like fun if weather is nice.
It adds extra gymnastics - picking up bags if they are checked, manuevering through a station checking in at downtown hotel.
The next day time is limited by the time you have to deal with bags, either going back to station or leavign bags with bell hop.

When I take Amtrak I assume relative ontime arrival and that has been the case on my trips.  If I assumed the worst I probably would not have taken the train.

Bob Jordan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/19 04:41 by robj.

Last time it happened to me was 1978 (!!). I had a not-so-luxurious overnight in Ogden, Utah at Amtrak's expense. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/19 06:25 by ctillnc.

If you have a sleeper reservation on the Capitol and miss that train, you will likely have a coach seat on the --next-- day's train

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> If you have a sleeper reservation on the Capitol
> and miss that train, you will likely have a coach
> seat on the --next-- day's train

I'd expect Amtrak to either put you on a bus at Galesburg to catch the Capitol Ltd at South Bend or put you on the Lakeshore Ltd to NYP and NEC regional to WAS.  Whether or not there's any rooms available that night on the LSL is variable, depending on time of year, holidays, etc.

BRAtkinson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If you have a sleeper reservation on the
> Capitol
> > and miss that train, you will likely have a
> coach
> > seat on the --next-- day's train
>
> I'd expect Amtrak to either put you on a bus at
> Galesburg to catch the Capitol Ltd at South Bend
> or put you on the Lakeshore Ltd to NYP and NEC
> regional to WAS.  Whether or not there's any
> rooms available that night on the LSL is variable,
> depending on time of year, holidays, etc.

Agreed. Since the original poster expects a cross country sleeper trip, missing the train COULD put that in jeopardy.

Does anyone know what criteria Amtrak uses to bus or put up sleeper folks?

Posted from Android

Agreed with the above suggestion to NEVER try for a same-day connection in Chicago.  Even if Amtrak puts you up overnight, you may face changed accommodations on the next day's train, and it often takes Amtrak hours to sort out the mess and get you to a hotel room, often far from the city.

When I have a Chicago layover I stay at the Inn of Chicago on the Magnificent Mile.  For the location, the place is reasonably priced, and while not a top-of-the-line hotel, it's clean, provides decent amenities, and is a neighborhood full of restaurants.

I learned this lesson two years ago when I missed the Empire Builder connection from a very late Capitol Limited, and--because there was no sleeping car space on the next day's Empire Builder--got stuck in a coach all the way from Chicago to Whitefish, Montana.

Never again will I attempt a same-day connection in Chicago.

Art House

Coming back from Dallas on The Eagle we were late into Chicago (nothing new there) and were told Amtrak will no longer hold outbound trains for late inbound trains. As a result I missed  my train for Detroit. Given a choice by Amtrak, I could spend the night at a hotel & catch the morning train or ride a "bus" home that night.  Eleven of us opted for the "bus" . Amtrak provided a "Limbo Party Bus" for us to ride. Normally, that would have been a nice ride - if there hadn't been 11 of us with multiple bags/suitcases to cram in - VERY uncomfortable ride. In previous years I opted for the hotel & ride home the next day spending that day railfanning around the Chicago area. In my last 5 trips coming back on either The Eagle, The Chief, The Zephyr, or The Builder, I was late enough into Chicago that i missed my outbound connection, but my Detroit train was coach only so I don't know what happens if you have an outbound sleeper since most of the time they are booked up.  

Reading through all the "what if" scenarios, it strikes me that this a sad state of affairs that a 4 hour connection window isn't likely & you're just SOL on the remedy.

Chicago is a delightful place to spend a 20 hour layover.

Good food, plenty of shopping / museums / trains etc

Or stay in the suburbs (i.e. Morton Grove), via METRA, and PACE, and spend money at the great hobbies shops in Des Plaines, Chicagoland (Norwood Park), and Lombard.
Amtrak is too much of an ordeal with crappy, over-priced food to spend 3 days/2 nights in a row on a train,

RRBaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never, Never, Never put your trust in Amtrak
> connectivity. Spend the day in Chicago...  snip

RRBaron is right.
Just book a room and stay the night.
Mike

I have made the connection to and from the LSL to and from a western train many times over many years (I think it's almost 20 years at this point with at 30 or more roundtrips).  Only once have I missed the connection, as the result of several bad things happening to 49.  Amtrak put me up in a luxury hotel overnight and I got the same room on 27 that I would have had if I had made the connection (this did happen in February, which may have helped).  The Capitol eastbound may be a little more of a problem because the connection is tighter (although Amtrak will hold it if it's not too bad), but I wouldn't add a day unnecessarily to my schedule just on the off chance that something may happen.  Plan for a successful trip and let Amtrak provide your accommodations if there's a problem.

On my last transcon trip, I flew on United from Allentown to Chicago, then did the Southwest Chief to LA, Coast Starlight to Seattle, then the Empire Builder back to Chicago.  Depending on the time of the year, I can do Allentown - Chicago roundtrip for 25,000 Mileage Plus miles and have plenty of time to transfer between O'Hare and Union Station - I do travel light on luggage.

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Amtrak's fares, time schedules, equipment, routing, services and information (hereinafter "Amtrak services") are not guaranteed and are provided "as is" without any warranties of any kind, either express or implied, and Amtrak disclaims all warranties, express or implied.Amtrak reserves the right to change its policies without notice.Amtrak further specifically disclaims liability for any inconvenience, expense, or damages, incidental, consequential, punitive, lost profits, loss business or otherwise, resulting from errors in its timetable, shortages of equipment, or due to delayed trains, except when such delay causes a passenger to miss an Amtrak train guaranteed connection. When a guaranteed Amtrak train connection is missed, Amtrak will provide passenger with alternate transportation on Amtrak, another carrier, or provide overnight hotel accommodations, at Amtrak's sole discretion, but only when such circumstances resulted from the actions of Amtrak and this shall constitute Amtrak's sole liability and passenger's sole and exclusive remedy.Amtrak also disclaims any liability for the products and/or services of Amtrak's advertisers, business partners, sponsors, suppliers, licensors and agents to the extent permissible under the law and Amtrak shall only be responsible for the rail transportation services that it provides."