ORANGE, Calif. — Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner will add a 13th round trip between San Diego and Los Angeles beginning Monday, Oct. 14.
The new southbound train No. 578 will depart Los Angeles at 1:15 p.m., arriving in San Diego at 4:12 p.m. Existing train northbound train No. 591 will be renumbered to 593, with the new No. 591 departing San Diego at 5:25 p.m. and arriving in LA at 8:34 p.m.
A press release announcing the additions note the new trains fill gaps of approximately three hours in the existing schedule. Minor changes are being made to the schedule of other Surfliner trains to improve coordination with other trains. More details and updated schedules are available at the Pacific Surfliner website.
Amtrak says the Surfliner — which also has some trains that extend north to San Luis Obispo — is the busiest state-supported corridor route in the U.S., with almost 3 million riders in 2018.
Schedules and tickets are available at the Pacific Surfliner website, Amtrak website, and on Amtrak’s mobile apps.
This move does fill a gap in the daily schedule of the Surfliner. But there is no mention of equipping two more trainsets. The Surfliners now run with their high-profile cars that have the special dark blue paint job. But in more recent years Superliner cars have been appearing, tucked into the middle of many consists, and they are not carrying the special paint scheme. So, the conclusion is that Amtrak and Caltrans are short on equipment. That buy of high cars, made by Bombardier, came about twenty years ago, and the cars are showing some age with the paint fading. But it gets worse, in that for the past five years or so, one trainset isn’t high profile at all, with very ordinary low profile coaches and an occasional Amfleet coach.
So, they don’t have sufficient high-profile, branded cars to cover all the trains now. And I’ve seen or heard nothing about buying more. So will this mean three sets of low-profile cars worked into the fleet? Back when the train was rechristened as “Pacific Surfliner”, it was done to make the train stand out, and have visual appeal. To cover two trips that serve San Luis Obispo daily, included in the five that serve Santa Barbara, and all the many LA-to-San Diego trips, more cars are now needed.
ALL _ Another route that has gone from next to nothing, to quite a lot, is the MBTA Framingham – Worcester Line.
And of course MBTA’s Old Colony routes which had sunk to zero. – not only were all trains discontinued but the line through Quincy and into Braintree was actually obliterated and had to be newly built from ground up.
I ride the Pacific Surfliner two or three times a year from LAX to San Diego or vice versa. It is one of my favorite Amtrak train rides. But it is costly.
The Pacific Surfliner cost the federal and state taxpayers approximately $50 million in 2018. Folks love the train, but they don’t love it enough to cover the operating costs. Well, maybe not that many folks. The average load factor in 2018 was 30 percent, which is the lowest for any of the state supported trains. But what the heck, the On Time Percentage at the end points was 77.2 percent.
From 3 round trips a day to 13 and 3 million riders last year. From tiny acorns do mighty oak trees grow. Or if you build It people will come.
Thus would be a perfect candidate for a clockwork schedule (i.e., every hour on the hour, or the half-hour, etc.)
Sigh. Another Amtrak train to moon…
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own bleeping lawyer.
This is an Amtrak route that also sees commuter rail at both ends.
When Amtrak started in 1971 there were three San Diegans and no commuter trains.
Wow! When I used the service, in connection with my work and Don and Carolyn Davis’ acoustixal seminars, only three trips each way each day!
Excellent additions to fill out the schedule. Though, still a 3 hour ride as it was in 1968. And, Anna, at least I got your joke.
Texas has yet to kick the asphalt addiction!