It was a snowy day in Reno last December when I had gotten a text notification on my phone: my Amtrak California Zephyr train was on time. Heading home for the holidays, the only thing I felt on the train was bountiful Christmas spirit. A nice and smooth trip made me rethink everything I had thought before about Amtrak. Instead of arriving late I had arrived thirty minutes early.
When it goes right, this train ride can be the most fun and enjoyable travel experience. For me it’s my only option as I don’t have a car in Reno and my family refuses to travel through Truckee in the snow. While I have experienced multi hour delays and canceled trips in the past I have typically had good experiences with Amtrak.
The worst of the delays was a train trip I took to Roseville from Reno with a five hour delay. The reason it was so stressful was because after I arrived in Roseville I had a six hour drive to LA right after getting off of the train. Because of all the train delays we made it to Los Angeles at 3 a.m. The train had left by the time that we were supposed to arrive which was not fun at all…