Passenger Trains > Connection between 14 and 28 at PDX no longer exsists ?

I’m trying to book between SAC and PSC and the website won’t let me. Is this something new ? In the past if the starlight was late they just would bus people from KFS .

Posted from iPhone

Correct.  Amtrak no longer guarantees a 14-to-28 connection, thereby killing off more long distance markets. 

Propeller Head strikes again: "that's an experiential itinerary.  Enjoy the experience."

And NARP/RPA is silent and worthless yet again.

Thanks gene now I know

Posted from iPhone

Guess the bus was costing too much money !!??

In testing just now,  would not bring up any service for Jan 20  from Los Angeles to Pasco or Spokane ?
Or do we not show a overnight required connection?

That's pretty bad i understand the food issues but they will lpse a lot of revenue from this. I can't imagine a bus cost them that much that they had to discontinue lame

Posted from Android

Further testing Los Angeles to Minneapolis, the only service showing is LAX-Chicago on # 4  or 422   then a overnight bus to Minneapolis.

Can we not show a overnight in Chicago  or in the past test in Seattle ??

Too many passengers on the train, we must get rid of them and cut consists some more ?

Here is what I think is the problem,  Amtrak announced that Sunday morning a major computer service would take place of 5 or more hours.

Maybe the wrong keys were struck or wires crossed ?

Ed
 

40 years ago, I routinely made the #14 to #28 connection 3 or 4 times per year while traveling on business. 

These days, only a fool would attempt it.  3 years ago, I considered it but when checking the history of 'making' that connection and it wasn't good, so I spent the night in PDX at a nice hotel on the MAX Orange line that's only a block from Union Station.  2 years ago, I did an identical layover at PDX and stayed at the same hotel.  I checked if #14 would connect that day to #28.  Nope.  Not the next day, either. 

Here's a link to the check I just did 14 to 28 at PDX for the last 14 months. -->  14-to-28 connection history <--  A very miserable 73% FAILURE RATE!  Paying for hotels and trying to get any space on #28 during the summer especially is expensive and difficult. Rooms would be totally unavailable forcing those passengers to ride coach the next day.  How many of THEM would be repeat customers?  Busing passengers to make the connection is also a needless expense with that kind of failure rate.  I'm sure any bused passengers are angry, too, and likely missed the fabulous scenery along the Columbia River in the afternoon and evening.  By 'breaking' the connection, it saves Amtrak a lot of angry passengers and a significant amount of cash.  Sad to say, it's a wise business decision, in my opinion.

Oh...and last year, I went the other way...#27 to #11 with an overnight stay so I could finish riding all the rail transit in the Portland area.  There's more than 4 hours 'connect' time.  Another railfan I met in the lounge that morning said he was connecting to #11.  We came in about 2 hours late, so he made it.  The next day, as I recall, he would have missed the connection.  It comes down to the 'Dirty Harry' syndrome...'Do you feel lucky?'     



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/20 18:49 by BRAtkinson.

mundo Wrote:
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> Or do we not show a overnight required connection?

=============================================

Millennials..."the future of Amtrak"...don't comprehend overnight connections.
So they're not displayed.

George Warrington didn't comprehend overnight train travel (this by his own admission)
but at least he recognized their value to the business and let them be.  As bad as he was,
that was better than the current misfits running amok...er, make that "running Amtrak."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/20 19:27 by GenePoon.

It was still a "legal" connectionin May-June 2019. Nots sure when it was taken off most recently. 

It actually was doing pretty descently as a connection - especially when compared to the Warrington years!!! There's about an hour padding coming in to Portland (PDX) for #14; and the Empire Builder out of PDX was allowed could leave as late as 5:30 pm if it needed to. 

Likewise, was the bus that expensive between Klamath Falls (KFS) and Portland? However, I've been aboard the Coast Starlight when most of the time was lost between KFS and Chemult - largely due to some freight train interference. 

To each their own, but I stopped booking this connection quite a while ago. The bus to Pasco is really tedious and introduces a long bus ride into your travels. And if you miss the connection due to upstream delays and they overnight you in Portland, should it be during peak season, it's very likely that sleeper space on the next day's train is sold out. Meaning you'll be forcibly downgraded into a 46+ hour ride in crowded Coachclass if traveling to the CHI bumper post. 

There could be valid reasons for dropping this same day connection, but it should not have been held a secret when it occurred, and explained it as well.

Aside from this, NARP has forgotten their purpose, so might as well forget they exist, and many long standing members that I know have. This reality will become very evident in 2020. One can meet with Congress without them as individuals or with their state groups. They have morphed into an Amtrak cheer-leading squad and will not dirty their hands with issues that affect customers such as operational details, inconsistent OBS, maintenance issues, and publishing detailed, route specific revenue, avoidable cost, and PMTM data as they once did as tools to make (or not) a case for specific trains. Like Amtrak, they are too arrogant to change or listen.

 



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/20 07:11 by joemvcnj.

The connection is OK  at Portland  from train 14 to train 28.

This was a glitch because of the computer work Sunday night.


Ed

Yup it works again... good my summer plans aren't up in smoke! Will late summer will go to Glqcier for a few days then back to Eugene for the TOSU Oregon game then back home to Martinez

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/20 05:04 by goduckies.

Just book two reservations, ideally with a night in Portland. 

I stopped trying to book same day connections in Chicago after my first cross country trip with a 6 hour late Building and having to perform some major reservation hacking to get a sleeper on the next day's Cap.

A bus or hotel not only costs Amtrak money, but generally ruins my trip.  It's not worth the aggrivation. Just book a hotel room via priceline.

I've been burned by the same guaranteed connection.   

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The connection is OK  at Portland  from train 14
> to train 28.
>
> This was a glitch because of the computer work
> Sunday night.
>
>
> Ed

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Correct.  Amtrak no longer guarantees a 14-to-28
> connection, thereby killing off more long distance
> markets. 
>
> Propeller Head strikes again: "that's an
> experiential itinerary.  Enjoy the experience."
>
> And NARP/RPA is silent and worthless yet again.

So which is it?  Is our resident Amtrak "expert" wrong?

Gene Poon was correct for the day or two during the computer glitch.
Its OK now.  Just as I reported.  You may want to read my post thats it OK now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/20 09:59 by mundo.

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gene Poon was correct for the day or two during
> the computer glitch.
> Its OK now.  Just as I reported.  You may want
> to read my post thats it OK now.

I got it.  My point was because it was just a computer glitch, there is no reason to resort to immature name calling, or calling out the NARP.