California Zephyr - Amtrak Era

Amtrak Era

As ridership fell during the 1960s the Western Pacific repeatedly petitioned the ICC to drop its section of the train west of Salt Lake City. On February 13, 1970, the ICC released an order stating that "operation of the train was no longer required". The final train departed Oakland, California on March 20, 1970, terminating at Chicago, Illinois on March 22, 1970. The California Zephyr had operated for 21 years and 2 days. East of Salt Lake City, the train was reduced from a daily to a tri-weekly schedule, operating as California Service on the Burlington and as the Rio Grande Zephyr on the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande portion of the train was extended beyond Salt Lake to Ogden, Utah, allowing Nevada and California passengers to connect to the Southern Pacific Railroad's City of San Francisco. This arrangement existed until the creation of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.

With the establishment of Amtrak in 1971, the new system began operating its San Francisco Zephyr over the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy route to Denver, and Union Pacific's Overland Route through Wyoming instead of Colorado, then over the Southern Pacific tracks west of Ogden, Utah. The Rio Grande Zephyr continued to operate as an alternate service between Denver and Ogden. In 1983 the Rio Grande reversed its decision and joined Amtrak.

In July 1983 Amtrak ceased operation of the San Francisco Zephyr and launched operation of a new California Zephyr over the CB&Q and Rio Grande legs of the original train route. Since that time the train has used a hybrid routing west of Salt Lake City between the route of the original California Zephyr and the former City of San Francisco. The train operates on the former Western Pacific's Central Corridor until central Nevada, changing to the Overland Route by the time the train reaches Winnemucca. As the two lines operate in a directional running setup across central Nevada, the exact spot the train switches lines is different depending on the direction of travel.