Credit Chris Lehman / KLCC The Lava Fire near Mount Shasta, California, burned a Union Pacific railroad bridge that carries Amtrak trains along the route from Seattle to Los Angeles. For about two weeks, Amtrak has canceled the Coast Starlight north of Sacramento while repairs on the trestle are underway.
While riders between Seattle and Eugene can use Cascades trains for local travel, it left Klamath Falls and Chemult without any passenger rail service. And it left the entire Pacific Northwest without any direction rail connection to California. Starting Thursday, Amtrak will resume trains to southern Oregon by running a northern section of the Coast Starlight between Seattle and Klamath Falls. But getting to or from California will require a transfer to a bus that runs overnight in either direction between Klamath Falls and Sacramento.