Passenger Trains > Amtrak Endpoint On-Time Arrival Statistics, August 2004

Amtrak Endpoint On-Time Arrival Statistics, August 2004.

The Hiawathas came in first at over 96%. Nobody else was even close.

Acela Express was the most on-time performer on the Northeast Corridor, edging out Regional by 0.01% but still failing to come anywhere near its goal as set by Amtrak. The Capitol Corridor exceeded its OTP goal, the only corridor/shorthaul service other than the Hiawathas to do so. Empire Service performed weakly, with less than half its trains arriving at endpoints on time. The Pennsylvanian, handled by Amtrak and Norfolk Southern, did poorly this month; substantially worse than the Three Rivers, which is (supposedly) handicapped by having to run on CSX, though its performance was nothing to be proud of, either.

The longhauls continue to look pretty dismal. Only the City of New Orleans exceeded its goal. The Empire Builder, once a steady performer in the mid-80% range, struggles along at half that. The Southwest Chief was handicapped by flooding and subsequent serious freight train congestion on the BNSF Transcon. The California Zephyr only arrived on time once, all month; the perpetual loser Sunset Limited failed to do so even once, and failed to complete a substantial number of its trips at all, in both directions.

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The List (hopefully not too messed up by Trainorders's loss of formatting, though it can always be copied and pasted into Notepad to retain the columns)

Service...........Operated.....Late...% On Time...Goal

Acela Express..........780......186.....76.2%....94.0%
Auto Train..............56.......28.....50.0%....70.0%
California Zephyr.......62.......61......1.6%....70.0%
Capitol Ltd.............62.......56......9.7%....70.0%
Capitols...............690.......88.....87.2%....85.0%
Cardinal................25.......14.....44.0%....70.0%
Carolinian..............61.......40.....34.4%....85.0%
Cascades...............339......111.....67.3%....85.0%
City of New Orleans.....62.......17.....72.6%....70.0%
Clocker/Keystone.......635......158.....75.1%....90.0%
Coast Starlight.........62.......52.....16.1%....70.0%
Crescent................62.......22.....64.5%....70.0%
Downeaster.............247.......38.....84.6%....85.0%
Empire Service.........696......350.....49.7%....85.0%
Empire Builder.........124.......68.....45.2%....70.0%
Heartland Flyer.........62.......13.....79.0%....85.0%
Hiawatha...............424.......16.....96.2%....85.0%
Hoosier State...........36.......20.....44.4%....85.0%
Illinois/MO............310......100.....67.7%....85.0%
Lake Shore Ltd.........122......104.....14.8%....70.0%
Metroliner.............133.......34.....74.4%....94.0%
Michigan...............310......170.....45.2%....85.0%
Pac Surfliner..........715......138.....80.7%....85.0%
Pennsylvanian...........62.......49.....21.0%....85.0%
Piedmont................60.......16.....73.3%....85.0%
Regional..............1653......395.....76.1%....90.0%
San Joaquins...........370......238.....35.7%....85.0%
Silver Svc.............166......136.....18.1%....70.0%
Southwest Chief.........62.......50.....19.4%....70.0%
Sunset Ltd..............22.......22......0.0%....70.0%
Texas Eagle.............62.......28.....54.8%....70.0%
Three Rivers............62.......42.....32.3%....70.0%

ALL...................8594.....2860.....66.7%....85.0%

That's pretty dismal.

Stupid question, but what counts as late? Is it the same for all services?

RMISeattle Wrote:
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> Stupid question, but what counts as late? Is it
> the same for all services?


The criteria has been discussed before and I don't remember the exact formula, however it works out that long distance trains can arrive up to 30 minutes behind schedule and still be considered on-time. Given that most LD schedules have considerable recovery time ("padding") built in before end point arrival, a statistically late train really has been running quite late.

Dave

Lakeshore Limited is at 15%. Not good.

That means it was on time 9 trips out of 60 for the month, and late on 51 trips. Considering all the money NY has spent to help CSX with its trackage between Poughkeepsie and Buffalo, I wonder if they get a refund?

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Lakeshore Limited is at 15%. Not good.
>
> That means it was on time 9 trips out of 60 for
> the month, and late on 51 trips. Considering all
> the money NY has spent to help CSX with its
> trackage between Poughkeepsie and Buffalo, I
> wonder if they get a refund?


Actually, there's got to be a typo in there somewhere for the LSL. It shows 104 of 122 trips arriving on time, which is a lot better than 14.8 percent. (I believe the 122 number is there because the Boston section is counted separately.)

That's how the 15% number was calculated.

The LSL is still a rolling disaster, as is the Empire Corridor and Adirondack, which is about an hour late everyday.

Any light at the end of the tunnel with late trains yet?

Aha, I misread the column -- couldn't see the header when I scrolled down to the LSL line. Would be easier to understand if the second number, after total trains, was the number that arrived on time, rather than the number that arrived late.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> Aha, I misread the column -- couldn't see the
> header when I scrolled down to the LSL line. Would
> be easier to understand if the second number,
> after total trains, was the number that arrived on
> time, rather than the number that arrived late.

Ah, complain, complain! Thanks once again for the numbers, Mr. Poon.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> The LSL is still a rolling disaster, as is the
> Empire Corridor and Adirondack, which is about an
> hour late everyday.

----------------

That was the other thing was got me.

More than half the Empire Line trains run between ALB and NYP, on track rebuilt to 110 mph in some places, 80 and 90 in others, two and three tracks, with low freight competition, and generous dispatching from MetroNorth.

Why the hell can't they at least keep time in that most favorable situation? It's a lot different than single track heavy freight UP operations out in snake-land (west Tex and New Mex)

Score another impressive tally for the Capitol Corridor. Even with some congestion, things are still very good.

The San Joaquins, for a short distance service, has a poor showing.

jccollins Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> toledopatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Aha, I misread the column -- couldn't see
> the
> > header when I scrolled down to the LSL line.
> Would
> > be easier to understand if the second
> number,
> > after total trains, was the number that
> arrived on
> > time, rather than the number that arrived
> late.
>
> Ah, complain, complain! Thanks once again for the
> numbers, Mr. Poon.
>

Not so much a complaint; rather, a suggestion that would improve the clarity of the information.

toledopatch Wrote:

>
> Not so much a complaint; rather, a suggestion that
> would improve the clarity of the information.
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The numbers come from Amtrak that way. I'd sooner leave them "raw" and as found.

-Gene Poon