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The Coast Starlight is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. 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 (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.
By 1971, the SP operated just two daily trains between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area: 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 between Oakland and Portland, Oregon. The Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) and Union Pacific Railroad ran three daily round trips between Portland and Seattle. The Santa Fe ran the San Diegan between Los Angeles and San Diego.
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 Union Pacific Railroad reduced the Coast Starlights 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. Between Fiscal year 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.
On February24, 2019, the southbound Coast Starlight struck a fallen tree near Oakridge, Oregon, 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. 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.
The Coast Starlight is occasionally diverted between Oakland and Los Angeles via the Central Valley and Tehachapi Pass due to track work or service disruptions on the Coast Line. These rerouted trains are popular with because they use the Tehachapi Loop, which has not had regularly scheduled passenger trains since 1971.
| +Amtrak Coast Starlight stations !State/Province !City !Station !Connections | |||
| Washington | Seattle | Seattle King Street | |
| Tacoma | Tacoma Dome | ||
| Lacey | Olympia–Lacey | ||
| Centralia | Centralia | ||
| Kelso | Kelso | ||
| Vancouver | Vancouver | Amtrak: Amtrak Cascades, Empire Builder | |
| Oregon | Portland | Portland | |
| Salem | Salem | ||
| Albany | Albany | ||
| Eugene | Eugene–Springfield | ||
| Chemult | Chemult station | Pacific Crest Bus Lines | |
| Klamath Falls | Klamath Falls | ||
| California | Dunsmuir | Dunsmuir station | |
| Redding | Redding | ||
| Chico | Chico station | ||
| Sacramento | Sacramento | ||
| Davis | Davis | ||
| Martinez | Martinez station | ||
| Emeryville | Emeryville | ||
| Oakland | Oakland–Jack London Square | ||
| San Jose | San Jose Diridon | ||
| Salinas | Salinas | ||
| Paso Robles | Paso Robles | ||
| San Luis Obispo | San Luis Obispo | ||
| Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara | ||
| Oxnard | Oxnard | ||
| Simi Valley | Simi Valley | ||
| Van Nuys | Van Nuys | ||
| Burbank | Burbank Airport-South | ||
| Los Angeles | Los Angeles Union |
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 Sky Lounge cars, built in 1956 for the Santa Fe's El Capitan 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."
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