California Zephyr

omaproud · Post by **omaproud** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:41 pm

I am considering taking the Amtrak from Omaha to Denver in July for a business trip. Can anyone speak to the reliability of the departure and arrival times? It is scheduled to leave daily(I think)at 10:39 pm and arrive in Denver at 7:30 am. I'm wondering if a 9:00 meeting in Denver is do-able? I actually work not far from the tracks and am pretty sure I see the train move through at other times? Thanks.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:06 pm

I can't comment on that, but some of my friends took an AMTRAK to NYC once. Their train was 15 HOURS late. Ha.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:46 pm

15 hours late from coast to coast... that's actually probably pretty good.

I was late from Omaha to Chicago by 4 hours. Looks like you have a pretty big safety window though omaproud... you should be okay.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:51 pm

Actually it was 15 hours late in picking them up. It was about two or three hours (on top of the 15) late getting into NYC. Their trip went from being 7 days to being 5.

Post by **Brad** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:36 pm

Eric "Zephyr" takes it almost every time he comes to Omaha. PM him, He always has good things to say about, but like some of us, he is a Train Buff, so a few extra min on a siding watching another train pass is always cool to train buffs.

Zephyr · Post by **Zephyr** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:12 am

Usually, the westbound train into Denver is about on-time, or at least within an hour so I would think you would be ok. I am usually walking to work when it comes in so I can vouch for that.

The eastbound on the other hand is usually at least a couple hours late as it gets held up by UP coal/intermodal traffic west of Denver. I can vouch for that too because I usually hear it leave from my apartment.

The nice thing about traveling on the California Zephyr between Omaha and Denver is that it's at night, so you've got the whole day ahead of you when you arrive at either city. On the other hand, it's not too great for scenery in the dark...

omaproud · Post by **omaproud** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:28 am

Unfortunately, I don't think I can risk missing my business meeting. I'd love to try the train, but with this reputation of not being on time I'm sure this deters lots of would-be travelers. What I'd really like to do is take it all the way to Salt Lake City sometime to enjoy the Colorado scenery. Thanks for the advise.

jsheets · Post by **jsheets** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:51 pm

Zephyr wrote:On the other hand, it's not too great for scenery in the dark...

that trip isn't much for scenery in the light either...

ItsAllAboutMe · Post by **ItsAllAboutMe** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:23 pm

The East bound train is notoriously late. Bank on it!!!

Asten · Post by **Asten** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:30 pm

I've taken it both east and west of Omaha about 5 times in the last 7-8 years, and I've never had it closer than 6 hours to the scheduled time. It's really bad when it's a Chicago originated train and is late from the get-go. =(

I definintely wouldn't rely on it for a business meeting, but that said, I'd heartily recommend it for leisure travel. It's quite nice.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:18 pm

And you wonder why amtrak is always loosing money.