cost of padding rail schedules

[world traveler]

I was doing a search on average speeds on the regional rails after learning that the MARC train hits 125mph.

Not only are SEPTA trains slow, they are costing the transit authority a lot of money:

The Cost of Schedule Padding — $2 Million a Year or More

Each minute added to every train's schedule costs SEPTA from $387,000 to $1.9 million per year. The direct labor cost for a crew of two is $98.10 per hour, and multiplied by the extra hours where the crew sits in the station waiting for the scheduled departure time, it comes out to over $387,000 per year for each minute. Considering that 3 minutes could easily be eliminated from the time it takes trains to go through the Center City Commuter Tunnel, the savings would be at least $1 million in direct labor costs alone.

The Bucks County TMA calculates that the total operating cost of a train is $250 per vehicle revenue hour (in its Quakertown-Stony Creek study). SEPTA's actual fully allocated cost per vehicle revenue hour ranges from $280 to $435, according to their Annual Service Plan. Assuming a minimum of two cars per train, that is a minimum of $500 per hour, and nearly $2 million per year for each minute of schedule padding. However, the fully allocated costs includes some fixed costs that cannot be reduced by having the trains run shorter schedules.

Every minute that a SEPTA train is not carrying passengers to their final destination is an expense to SEPTA. The extra five minutes of padding built into the schedule of every train costs SEPTA from $2 to 10 million per year.

Block scheduling and padding, a waste of time and money. Speed up those trains!

[scotty269]

I hear it cost about tree fiddy.

[Matthew Mitchell]

Well, unless you either throw out standard 30-60 minute headways or completely re-do the line pairing, any minutes you save out of the schedules will just go into layover time at the end of the line.

[Patrick Boylan]

You don't mention any of the other benefits from reducing padding. Besides giving the crew more layover time, you're also increasing the service's attraction to passengers.
And potentially increasing the time one might be able to use the train as a waiting room at the end of the line, which doesn't seem to happen much. I've never been able to figure why it's so dangerous to allow ticketed passengers to get on board. The norm seems to be to make them wait on the platform till just a few minutes before departure.

[Choo Choo]

The norm seems to be to make them wait on the platform till just a few minutes before departure.

Riders perceive this as being done intentionally out of spite toward the passengers. That may not be true or fair... but that is the perception. There is this notion that SEPTA has contempt for its customers.

[Tritransit Area]

Don't forget that schedule padding helps to ensure that the train remains on time. While people would prefer faster rides, they get more agitated when their train departs/arrives late, especially if they have a connection to make. Hopefully when all is said and done with the signalling upgrades, the service can be more reliable and reduce travel times (even though that may be wishful thinking after what apparently happened with the main line, lol). Are there any other improvements SEPTA can make to the infrastructure that can reduce the amount of padding needed, reducing travel time?

[loufah]

Presumably opening the train early depends on how long it takes to do brake tests, etc. The 6PM departure out of Trenton is always open when I get there at 5:26PM, but it has 50 minutes of headway from the previous train. Later in the evening, there's only 30 minutes of headway, and the trains don't open up until 10 or so minutes before departure. Could also be that the later crews are tired and working slower.

[Clearfield]

Riders perceive this as being done intentionally out of spite toward the passengers. That may not be true or fair... but that is the perception. There is this notion that SEPTA has contempt for its customers.

Some of that is a perception, some of that may be some crew member's contempt for SEPTA that ultimately affects the customers. Relations between SEPTA and its unions hasn't been great for alot of reasons on both sides.

A little more crew hustle wouldn't hurt!

[Patrick Boylan]

loufah, I'm not sure about the etc, but an excuse I've heard from crews is that they can't let passengers on because they have to do a brake test.
Why is that? I've been on many Amtrak trains which have changed engines, I assume they do a brake test, yet they don't require passengers to disembark during the test.
What's so dangerous about SEPTA's brake test, and do other railroads have similar practices, that they can't conduct it while people are on the train? I can understand that they might not want the doors open while testing, but I'm not sure why the brake test means they can't get to the terminal, let departing passengers get off, let anyone on the platform get on, close the doors, test the brakes, then open the doors again.

Granted, letting people get in out of the elements and get themselves situated on the train at a terminal probably doesn't affect on time performance.

[rslitman]

The norm seems to be to make them wait on the platform till just a few minutes before departure.

Riders perceive this as being done intentionally out of spite toward the passengers. That may not be true or fair... but that is the perception. There is this notion that SEPTA has contempt for its customers.

Maybe it's done this way out of "fairness" to people who board further down the line!

Sometimes at West Trenton, the SEPTA train can't pull up to the station early because a west/southbound freight train has to come through first. What is maddening is when the SEPTA train has to wait for a freight train that is so long that it causes the SEPTA train to be late.

[Matthew Mitchell]

I checked my SPO-1 and confirmed that at turnaround points, crews are to open the train to passengers after the ends are changed and the brake test completed. Coming out of a yard (e.g. West Trenton), they are supposed to have the train at the station and open five minutes before scheduled departure.

[zebrasepta]

i found couple of trains which takes 10 minutes to get to Lansdale from Pennbrook
I know the padding is for waiting at Lansdale for the train from Doylestown/Link Belt to come to Lansdale

[Clearfield]

loufah, I'm not sure about the etc, but an excuse I've heard from crews is that they can't let passengers on because they have to do a brake test.

AMTRAK trains do a running break test as they leave 30th street. If you've ever left 30th, you may notice that the train slows down slightly as it reached the outside.

[nomis]

loufah, I'm not sure about the etc, but an excuse I've heard from crews is that they can't let passengers on because they have to do a brake test.

AMTRAK trains do a running break test as they leave 30th street. If you've ever left 30th, you may notice that the train slows down slightly as it reached the outside.

The running break test has different requirements when interesting be performed, vs a Class 2 break test when you change ends at an outlying point ( or PHL for Keystone). You may or may not notice the running break test when leaving Suburban on a crew change, and it ought to be done after the standing brake test listed above.

[nomis]

loufah, I'm not sure about the etc, but an excuse I've heard from crews is that they can't let passengers on because they have to do a brake test.

AMTRAK trains do a running break test as they leave 30th street. If you've ever left 30th, you may notice that the train slows down slightly as it reached the outside.

The running break test has different requirements when interesting be performed, vs a Class 2 break test when you change ends at an outlying point ( or PHL for Keystone). You may or may not notice the running break test when leaving Suburban on a crew change, and it ought to be done after the standing brake test listed above.