redtigeriii

I did a search on the forum and couldn't find any similar thread. I was considering booking a routing next year that involved the Southwest Chief, and upon doing some research, came across this link:

http://www.progressiverailroading.co...-Runner--44749

I haven't been able to find any additional updates or information. I'm hesitant to make a booking with this route in 2016, and not quite sure what I'll do right now. But, if anyone has additional information, that would be great!

3Cforme

It would seem the route has been marginal for some time and Amtrak is offering a new reason to terminate it.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtra...f-routing.html

BobH

This is an old thread, the route over Raton Pass isn't going away any time soon, but if you're interested in riding all of Amtrak, it deserves some priority.

Bob H

acrollet

For those that read the article and are concerned about the River Runner, I found this article which seems more promising: https://csanders429.wordpress.com/20...mtrak-service/

SCEflyer

This afternoon I completed an LAX to CHI trip on Number 4. It was an enjoyable trip.

Here are some bullet points:

Departure from LAX was on time at 6:10 PM on Thursday (5/5). Arrival today was a bit early at roughly 2:50 PM.

The consist was two P42 (?) GE engines, a new generation baggage car, three Sleepers, a dining car, a lounge car and three coaches.

I had a roomette in a Superliner 2 car. The attendant kept the car very clean throughout the trip, and was always cheerful in addressing any special requests, such as bringing meals to a room, as he did for me at lunch today. Fresh coffee was available for most of the trip, and not just the morning. He did a nice job making up the beds and cleaning the rooms. There have been reports that the "pax" in a roomette would now have to tuck in the blankets. This was definitely not the case, although the blankets are now delivered in large sealed plastic bags, just as they are in business class on the airlines, and are cleaned after each use. I am not certain that this has always been the case.

The dining car meals were somewhat better than just being just "OK", and no FC customer is going to go hungry while on the trip. The dining car staffing on this trip was one apparent supervisor, two servers, a food handling specialist and most importantly a chef. Only one half of the car was open.

Finally, the scenery for the middle half of the trip, specifically From ABQ through The Colorado portion is spectacular, and crossing Raton Pass was the highlight.

Daze

With two TIGER grants approved and improvements to the Southwest Chief route ongoing, and two more TIGER grants in progress, the idea of rerouting through Amarillo is no longer viable. The Southwest will stay on its current route.

But, Amtrak remains chronically underfunded by Congress, so an Amtrak trip sooner rather than later is always a good idea.

Daze

redtigeriii

Thanks for the posting your recent Southwest Chief experience. I decided to do this route sooner rather than later and will be taking the Chief the other way, CHI-LAX in a roomette and will report back here to how it went. Doing this as a part of a larger CHI-LAX-PDX route including the Coast Starlight that I booked just before the program changes went into effect in January.