A partially collapsed tunnel has disrupted Amtrak's Coast Starlight since May 31. Initially, passengers were being bused around the closure point, which is between Klamath Falls and Eugene, OR. Repairs are taking longer than initially expected, and since June 12 Amtrak has been running a stub train between Los Angeles and Sacramento, coach only, with no sleepers or diner. Furthermore, there is no accommodation to get people to points north of Sacramento. This is the busiest season for Amtrak's most popular long distance train, when it generally is sold out. Many people transfer to the Empire Builder at Portland or Seattle, yet Amtrak is making no accommodation for those folks. Welcome to a taste of the future Amtrak.

My husband and I took the Coast Starlight from LA to Oakland on April 9th. That part of the trip is very scenic, mostly during daylight hours, and is not affected by this major problem in OR.
I don't see why anyone would want a sleeper for the part of the trip that is still running in CA. You would have to plan in advance to take food with you with no dining car. I assume they still have the snack car but the food on that is very limited.

It certainly does seem Amtrak should have made arrangements to bus people to other locations while the line repairs are being completed.

I don’t think it’s a taste of the future Amtrak- that just sounds like Amtrak being Amtrak. I’m wondering if they just got a lot of complaints about the bus service and just decided to let people fend for themselves. The most popular tourist part ends in Sac, and it’s pretty inexpensive to fly Sac to Pdx or Seattle. I think I’d probably demand a refund instead of taking the bus on that leg.

You’re right about the lack of a need for a sleeper car in California, vttraveler. You wouldn’t book it for just that section, but the thing is, those sleeper cars book up early for the whole route. They’re expensive and it’s interesting that Amtrak isn’t doing what they can to accommodate those customers. Well, sort of interesting. Amtrak seems to enjoy shooting itself in the hiney.

I am kind of annoyed, I’ll admit. I’d like to use my Amtrak credit to go somewhere this summer, and coast starlight is my favorite. But who knows how long those repairs will take.

I have reservations on that route departing Sacramento on Jun 8th northbound. I just checked with AMTRAK and they tell me they expect the route north of Sacramento will be back in service on June 25th.

Shortly after midnight June 2 my wife and I got on the CS in Sacramento in Business Class. We were the only 2 in the lower level of the BC car all the way to Klamath Falls. In K-Falls we got on a bus north on US 97 to Chemult where our SUV was parked for 12 days. The bus continued northward and took the rest of his passengers to Pasco Washington to connect with the eastbound Empire Builder.
The other buses took passengers over to Eugene to connect with northbound trains.
The tunnels that Union Pacific were constructed 90 to 95 years ago. UP wants to make sure that roof collapses will not be a continuing problem. UP actually ran a few freight trains up through Bend and the Deschutes Canyon on the BNSF tracks. This is a big headache for UP as well as Amtrak.