In response to the gentleman who tried to correct my statement that it took 17 hours to get from SoCal to the SF Bay Area, he was correct in stating that the scheduled time for the Coast Starlight is only 10 hours (10:00am departure in LA, 8:27pm arrival in San Jose). But I had to leave my hotel in Anaheim at 7:15am to make sure I got myself and bags checked on the 8:07 Surfliner train to LA. And since the Starlight didn't arrive in San Jose until 9:08pm, missing the last Caltrain for 1½ hours. I got home about 15 minutes to Midnight. OK, so that’s only 16¾ hours. You can read a full account of my first trip on Amtrak. (IE 5.5 or higher required)