The ''Coast Starlight'' is a long-distance

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

between

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

via Portland and the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's formation in 1971, was the first to offer direct service between Seattle and Los Angeles. Its name is a combination of two prior Southern Pacific (SP) trains, the '' Coast Daylight'' and the ''Starlight''. During

fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

(FY) 2024, the ''Coast Starlight'' carried 359,432 passengers, an increase of 6.3% from FY 2023. In FY 2024, the train made 730 trips and 1 million train miles; it had a total revenue of $49.5 million, and operating expenses of $93.9 million.

History

Background

Before the formation of Amtrak, no passenger train ran the entire length of the West Coast. The closest equivalent was the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

(SP)'s '' West Coast'', which ran via the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

from Los Angeles to Portland from 1924 to 1949, with through cars to Seattle via the Great Northern Railway (GN). By 1971, the SP operated just two daily trains between Los Angeles and the

: the Los Angeles–San Francisco '' Coast Daylight'' via the Coast Line, and the Los Angeles–Oakland '' San Joaquin Daylight'' via the Central Valley. The SP also operated the tri-weekly ''

Cascade Cascade, or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science * Air shower (physics), a cascade (particle shower) of subatomic particles and ionized nuclei ** Particle shower, a cascade of secondary particles produced as the result of a high ...

'' between Oakland and

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. The

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

(BN) and

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

ran three daily round trips between Portland and Seattle. The Santa Fe ran the '' San Diegan'' between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Amtrak era

The Seattle–San Diego route was initially left out of plans for Railpax (later

) until protests from politicians in California, Oregon, and Washington. With the start of Amtrak operations on May1, 1971, a single train began running between Seattle and San Diego. The unnamed train (#11/12) ran three days a week; on the other four days, another unnamed train (#98/99) ran between Oakland and Los Angeles. On November 14, Amtrak extended the Oakland–Los Angeles train to San Diego, renumbered it to #12/13, and renamed it ''Coast Daylight''. The Seattle–San Diego train became the ''Coast Daylight/Starlight'' (#11-12) northbound and ''Coast Starlight/Daylight'' (#13-14) southbound. Both trains were cut back from San Diego to Los Angeles in April 1972, replaced by a third ''San Diegan''. On June10, 1973, Amtrak began running the combined ''Coast Daylight/Starlight'' daily for the summer months. Positive response led to Amtrak to retain this service, and the ''Coast Daylight'' name was dropped on May19, 1974. An additional train, the '' Spirit of California'', ran the section of the route between Sacramento and Los Angeles on an overnight schedule from October25, 1981, to September30, 1983. From November10, 1996, to October25, 1997, through coaches were transferred between the ''Coast Starlight'' and ''San Diegan'' at Los Angeles. The ''Coast Starlight'' originally used the Southern Pacific West Valley Line between Tehama and Davis. That route included a stop at Orland, but bypassed Sacramento. On April26, 1982, the train was rerouted via Roseville on the Southern Pacific Valley and Martinez Subdivisions, with stops added at Sacramento, Chico, and Marysville, per request from the state. In 1999, the ''Coast Starlight'' was rerouted onto the more direct ex- Western Pacific Sacramento Subdivision between Marysville and Sacramento, with the Marysville stop closed. Ridership declined by 26% between 1999 and 2005 as freight congestion and track maintenance on the

reduced the ''Coast Starlight''s on-time performance to 2%, which Amtrak characterized as "dismal." By mid-summer in 2006 delays of 5–11 hours were common. Critics dubbed the train the ''Star-late''. During early summer 2008, the ''Coast Starlight'' was relaunched with new amenities and refurbished equipment. In July 2008, refurbished Pacific Parlour cars returned to service as part of the relaunch. This was much anticipated, due to the success of Amtrak's relaunch of the ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is a daily long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great North ...

''. Between FY 2008 and FY 2009, ridership on the ''Coast Starlight'' jumped 15% from 353,657 passengers to 406,398 passengers. Operating conditions on the UP improved as well; by May 2008 on-time performance had reached 86%. Service was suspended north of Sacramento for a month in 2017 after a freight derailment damaged a bridge near Mount Shasta, California. Amtrak Coast Starlight 14 Moorpark 2018

The Southbound Coast Starlight at horseshoe curve

On February24, 2019, the southbound ''Coast Starlight'' struck a fallen tree near

Oakridge, Oregon Oakridge is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The population was 3,205 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is located east of Westfir, Oregon, Westfir on Oregon Route 58, about east of Eugene, Oregon, Eugene and sout ...

after a rare heavy snowstorm. The train was stranded for 36 hours before tracks could be cleared for a Union Pacific locomotive to tow the train back to Eugene–Springfield. From October1, 2020, to May24, 2021, daily service was reduced to three trains per week due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On May24, 2021, as part of its post-COVID service restorations, Amtrak restored the ''Coast Starlight'' frequency to daily service in both directions. In late June 2021, the Lava Fire seriously damaged a Union Pacific trestle on the Black Butte Subdivision between Klamath Falls, Oregon and Dunsmuir, California. As a result, the ''Coast Starlight'' was initially split into two segments: Seattle to Klamath Falls and Sacramento to Los Angeles with a bus replacement service filling the gap between Klamath Falls and Sacramento. However, on July2, 2021, it was announced that service would be discontinued between Seattle and Sacramento until July14, 2021, with Amtrak Cascades replacing service for passengers booked between Seattle and Eugene. Through service resumed on July15 using overnight buses between Sacramento and Klamath Falls, and full-route train operation resumed on August23. A resurgence of the COVID-19 virus caused by the Omicron variant caused Amtrak to reduce the frequency of this route to five-weekly round trips from January to March 2022. Trains began running over the Point Defiance Bypass between Tacoma and DuPont, Washington starting on November18, 2021.

Future improvements

The 2018 California State Rail Plan, prepared by

Caltrans The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

, outlines a number of planned improvements to rail infrastructure in the state of California. The plan was updated in 2023. In 2022, the California Transportation Commission approved $7.5 million for the construction of a new station in King City to improve access to the region, including nearby Fort Hunter Liggett and Pinnacles National Park. There is also a proposal in the Capitol Corridor Vision plan to improve the right-of-way shared by the ''

Capitol Corridor The ''Capitol Corridor'' is a passenger train route in Northern California operated by Amtrak between San Jose, California, San Jose, in the Bay Area, and Auburn, California, Auburn, in the Sacramento Valley. The route is named after the two ...

'' and ''Coast Starlight'' between Oakland and Martinez. The proposal would re-route the train from along the shores of

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of the San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep wate ...

and the

Carquinez Strait The Carquinez Strait (; Spanish: ''Estrecho de Carquinez'') is a narrow tidal strait located in the Bay Area of Northern California, United States. It is part of the tidal estuary of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers as they drain int ...

to a new tunnel through Franklin Canyon and a right-of-way next to California State Route 4 that would reduce the trip time by several minutes.

Route

Except for two sections, most of the ''Coast Starlight'' route is on former Southern Pacific lines now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. The ''Coast Starlight'' runs over the following lines: *

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

Seattle Subdivision (ex- NP, later ex- BN): Seattle, Washington to Tacoma, Washington *

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Se ...

(SDRX) Point Defiance Bypass: Tacoma to DuPont, Washington *BNSF Seattle Subdivision: DuPont to Portland, Oregon * UP Brooklyn Subdivision: Portland to Eugene, Oregon *UP Cascade Subdivision: Eugene to Klamath Falls, Oregon *UP Black Butte Subdivision: Klamath Falls to Dunsmuir, California *UP Valley Subdivision: Dunsmuir to Marysville, California *UP Sacramento Subdivision (ex- WP): Marysville to Sacramento, California *UP Martinez Subdivision: Sacramento to Oakland, California *UP Niles Subdivision: Oakland to Elmhurst, California *UP Coast Subdivision: Elmhurst to Santa Clara, California *

Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a commuter rail line in California, serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose, California, San Jose at the Tamien station with weekday r ...

(JPBX) Peninsula Subdivision: Santa Clara to Tamien, California *UP Coast Subdivision: Tamien to San Luis Obispo, California *UP

Santa Barbara Subdivision The Coast Line is a railroad line between Burbank, California and the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly along the Pacific Coast. It is the shortest rail route between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Though not as busy as the Surf Line, the continua ...

: San Luis Obispo to Moorpark, California * Metrolink (SCAX) Ventura Subdivision: Moorpark to Taylor Yard, Los Angeles *Metrolink (SCAX) River Subdivision: Taylor Yard to Los Angeles Union Station The ''Coast Starlight'' is occasionally diverted between Oakland and Los Angeles via the Central Valley and

Tehachapi Pass Tehachapi Pass ( Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") is a mountain pass crossing the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, California. Traditionally, the pass marks the northeast end of the Tehachapis and the south end of the Sierra N ...

due to track work or service disruptions on the Coast Line. These rerouted trains are popular with railfans because they use the Tehachapi Loop, which has not had regularly-scheduled passenger trains since 1971.

Stations

Equipment

The ''Coast Starlight'' typically uses two GE P42DC or Siemens ALC-42 locomotives. The train uses double-decker Superliner equipment, including a Sightseer Lounge car that has floor-to-ceiling windows to view the passing scenery. , a typical consist has a Viewliner baggage car, a transition sleeper, two sleeping cars, two coaches, one coach/baggage car, the lounge car, and a dining car. , Amtrak intends to add a third coach in May 2025. Prior to February 2018, the ''Coast Starlight'' was unique in that it included a first-class lounge car called the "Pacific Parlour Car". The cars were Budd

Hi-Level The Hi-Level was a type of Bilevel rail car, bilevel intercity railroad passenger railroad car, passenger car used in the United States. Car types included coaches, dining cars, and lounge cars; a sleeping car variant was considered but never pr ...

Sky Lounge cars, built in 1956 for the Santa Fe's ''

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

'' service. Called a "living room on rails", the Parlour car offered several amenities to first-class sleeping car passengers including wireless Internet access, a full bar, a small library with books and games, an afternoon wine tasting, and a movie theater on the lower level. Sleeping car passengers could also make reservations to dine in the Parlour car, which offered a unique menu not offered in the standard dining car. In February 2018, in a cost-cutting measure, Amtrak retired the Pacific Parlour Cars, citing the move as "part of Amtrak's ongoing work to modernize its fleet of equipment."

References

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Notes

External links

* * {{Authority control Amtrak routes Passenger rail transportation in California Passenger rail transportation in Oregon Passenger rail transportation in Washington (state) Public transportation in Southern California Night trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1971 Long-distance Amtrak routes