STOCKTON, Calif. — Amtrak’s state-supported Gold Runner service, which restored a seventh round trip between Stockton and Bakersfield in December, has now canceled one daily round trip between Bakersfield and Oakland through March 5.
The trains affected are No. 713, an 8:58 a.m. departure from Bakersfield that arrives in Oakland at 3:14 p.m., and No. 714, which leaves Oakland at 12:18 p.m. and arrives in Bakersfield at 6:39 p.m. The cancellations began Monday, Jan. 5.
A brief notice on the Gold Runner site says the cancellation “is necessary to support ongoing and important maintenance work required for the fleet of equipment. These efforts are critical to ensuring the continued safety, reliability, and long-term readiness of our operation.”
The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which operates the trains, took similar action for a month last fall when one round trip was suspended, along with two Capitol Corridor round trips [see “Abrupt cancellations hit …,” Trains.com, Sept. 4, 2025]. Those cancellations were attributed to “locomotive repair work.” Transit America, a subsidiary of Herzog Transit Services, subsequently took over maintenance for locomotives and railcars on both routes [see “Maintenance responsibilities shift …,” Sept. 29, 2025]
The two-month cancellation of trains 713 and 714 come just a month after service was restored to pre-pandemic levels on Dec. 8 by adding a second Bakerfield-Sacramento round trip, trains 701 and 704, giving the Gold Runners seen round trips on the Stockton-Bakersfield portion of the route [see “Rebrand just part of Gold Runner’s path forward,”Nov. 19, 2025].
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One step forward, followed by one step backward.