(The following story by Jane Engle appeared on the Los Angeles Times website on April 30.)
LOS ANGELES — Starting next week, you’ll be able to ride Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train along its full route between Los Angeles and Seattle for the first time in more than three months, the company said this afternoon.
Amtrak stopped running the popular long-distance train in January after massive mudslides buried Union Pacific tracks near the small town of Oakridge in western Oregon. It later restored portions of the route, using buses and other trains to end-run the slide. Union Pacific has since cleared the tracks, said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham in Oakland.
The first train to run the full Coast Starlight route will leave Union Station in downtown Los Angeles May 6, Graham said. “We’ve been told we’ll be able to go at full speed,” she told me. “They should be on their regular schedules.”
Graham didn’t have an immediate estimate of Amtrak’s losses from the prolonged shutdown, which affected thousands of passengers. But there is light at the end of the tunnel: The company still plans to upgrade the Coast Starlight, adding flat-screen TVs to refurbished parlor cars and new arcade cars with video games, plus start full meal service at seats for coach passengers.
The rollout of the upgrade will start in late May, followed by the official launch on June 10, Graham said.