Originally Posted by
mahasamatman
We love the Coast Starlight, but I'm not sure I'd call any Amtrak service (with the possible exception of Acela) "good". U.S. and Canada just don't have the will to establish good rail service. Amtrak takes second fiddle to cargo trains, so multi-hour delays are quite common.
The Coast Starlight is basically a land cruiser and does experience large delays.
The Pacific Surfliner, on the other hand, is the second busiest line in the US, after the Northeast Corridor. There are currently 10 trips a day between LA and San Diego, which I believe is still less than pre-COVID. The trains are generally on time (something like 94% from what I recall)
https://www.pacificsurfliner.com/glo...y-25-2022.pdf/
You can also use local transit between the cities, transferring at
Oceanside. This is also a good option for folks who want to get between SD and LA, but not necessarily the downtown stations.
The trains do not get you to LAX, so this isnt a good option for folks connecting on flights, but it does handle a lot of the O-D traffic between the cities. One day, when we are all dead and gone, High Speed Rail might finally open between the cities as well.