The restoration of these roundtrips between Los Angeles and San Diego will help fill gaps in the Pacific Surfliner’s current schedule and move the schedule toward more consistent hourly train service. The 11th and 12th roundtrips are planned to be implemented in March 2025, with the 13th coming in November 2025.
1 Like
The one time I tried the LA to SD train was awful and took forever.
What was awful about it?
I took it and thought it was a great relaxing way to get to SD especially when zipping by all those stuck in traffic. Picked up the train in Moorpark, transferred at Union Station. It certainly took longer than driving but I was nice and relaxed enjoying a cup of coffee, bagel and newspaper on the way.
My train was very crappy and stopped a lot for no discernible reason.
Crappy trains, isn’t that the American way. 
:
Yes pretty much. To be fair I’ve also had good trips as well.
The reason it stopped so often is because much of it is a single-track railroad, so trains may have to idle in sidings waiting for traffic to pass in the other direction.
Interestingly, some are proposing to convert it to a rail trail, meaning traveling by train between Los Angeles and San Diego may soon become a thing of the past.
Del Mar Councilmember Dan Quirk continues to maintain there is no need for a tunnel. He said Monday the train is an “antiquated notion” and that the entire 60 miles of the corridor in San Diego County should be eliminated and replaced by a public trail.
“There is zero risk of a tunnel being built in Del Mar,” Quirk said Monday, adding that the new Republican majority in Congress will stop it.
Is it possible to do it by light rail these days?
Amtrak is not the only train operating company on that corridor. It’s also possible to take Metrolink (currently operated by Amtrak, though that will transition to Alstom later this year) from LA Union Station to Oceanside, and then Coaster (operated by North County Transit District) from Oceanside to San Diego.
This is kind of like taking NJ Transit from NY Penn to Trenton, and then SEPTA from Trenton to Philadelphia. Except that taking regional trains instead of Amtrak between San Diego and Los Angeles will not really save any money compared to Amtrak. And it will take significantly more time given the paucity of trains on that corridor and lack of scheduling coordination.
If the line south of Oceanside is taken out of commission (either due to forces of man or nature), then there isn’t really a good workaround other than running passenger buses down I-5. Other than that, one can currently take a hybrid “Sprinter” train from Oceanside to Escondido and then express bus 235 or 280 from Escondido to San Diego.
San Diego’s regional bus network will really need to amp up if the city is cut off from rail. They will definitely need an express bus to connect San Diego to Encinitas, Carlsbad and Oceanside.
1 Like
Another flash sale.
Book now through Jan 24 for travel 2/1 through 3/31 -
1 Like
Unless the discount is 100%+, it’s not worth it, @stache.
Amtrak is so unreliable in the winter they should pay people to ride it.
Thanks for the info, gonna book a trip to Philly now 
2 Likes
I’m thinking the days of these giant price breaks may be coming to an end. They used to have sales like this in the early '2000’s and congress put a stop to it.
If Amtrak will be using new trains that can switch to diesel after departing Pennsylvania Station, then I struggle to understand why Amtrak chose Ronkonkoma as the terminus.
The logical terminus is Greenport.
What do you think, @ALC11 ?
Is there a reason that you suggest Amtrak go to Greenport instead of Ronkonkoma? One thing for sure is that the station at Greenport would need more renovations (that platform is really short) than Ronkonkoma’s which are long enough to fit an Amtrak train and the only other connection to other destinations is the ferry at Greenport. There really isn’t much out there to warrant Amtrak service when the LIRR is sufficient.
The justification I see for the current situation is that it goes to the airport to provide one-seat rides without having to change trains at the dreaded Penn Station which is something Amtrak stipulated when planning Long Island service. The airport terminal will also have to be moved for some transit-oriented development in that area, making Ronkonkoma’s station more of a destination and allowing for airport customers to get a renovated terminal as an extra benefit.
The North Fork and Shelter Island are popular tourism/vacation/getaway destinations, but the Long Island Rail Road continues to treat the Greenport Branch as the redheaded stepchild of the system, the only part of the network without one-seat trains to NYC.
I really don’t see how the MacArthur Airport is going to be a huge destination. Are folks really going to fly into Islip and then take the train from Ronkonkoma to NYC? It’s just a small regional airport. It looks like it’s going to be a long outdoor schlep from the terminal to the railway station, or will they have a shuttle?
The length of the Greenport platform is not an issue. Amtrak has lots of experience with telling passengers they need to be in the front cars to exit at a particular platform.
3 Likes
They don’t specify if the passage to the airport is enclosed or not, but the developer’s contrast for the development was terminated so I don’t think anything is going to happen anytime soon.
The Airport seems to be lower-cost option than JFK or LGA and serves popular destinations such as Miami or Orlando, so Amtrak service can benefit those who want a faster trip to the city or want to go to other destinations without having to change at Penn.
Also, here’s a high-res render of the development. It seems like the walkway to the airport is covered.
5 Likes
Do the Amtrak trains that originate in Rensselaer, NY currently terminate at tail tracks or through tracks at Pennsylvania Station?
I am wondering why the various news articles talk about Ronkonkoma-bound trains continuing on to the Northeast Corridor. Wouldn’t it make sense for some trains that serve the Empire Corridor to continue to Ronkonkoma? To better connect Long Island to upstate New York. Or is that operationally infeasible?
It wouldn’t be impossible for the Empire Service trains to serve Ronkonkoma since they use P32AC-DM’s with the LIRR-compatible top-running 3rd rail shoes to enable service to Penn where diesel power is banned. There’s nothing really inhibiting them from running that service right now. The additional benefit is that the trains can run on 3rd-rail electric power for the entire run instead of switching to diesel when they exit the East River tunnels.
Regarding the news, it seems the trains that will serve Ronkonkoma will run either to Boston or DC otherwise it’d just be a bona-fide “super express” train for the LIRR and would make no sense. I haven’t heard anything about whether they even considered running Empire Service trains to LI even though it is technically feasible right now.
Also, as far as I know, Amtrak does not use any of the terminating tracks at Penn, those are reserved for NJ Transit and LIRR.
4 Likes