SELECTED ON-TIME PERFORMANCE 6/28/20 THROUGH 7/27/20

Results for this period are:

TOTAL TRAINS = 818

ON TIME = 426 (52%)

LATE = 392 (48%)

AVERAGE DELAY = 42"


Of the late trains:
54% were 29" or less late;
23% were 30" to 59" late;
16% were 1' to 2' late;
6% were more than 2' late; and
<1% had no arrival time shown.

BY ROUTE, WITH O.T. % AND AVERAGE DELAY:

CAPITOL LIMITED
#29 - 28% -49"
#30 - 46% - 38"

CARDINAL (WAS)
#51 - 46% - 34"
#50 - 15% - 1' 29"

PENNSYLVANIAN
#43 - 13% - 38"
#42 - 43% - 14"

LAKE SHORE LIMITED
#49 - 57% - 52"
#48 - 70% - 15"

LAKE SHORE LIMITED (BOSTON / ALBANY)
#449 - 40% - 27"
#448 - 9% - 48"

CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
#59 - 97% - 51"
#58 - 90% - 59"

CRESCENT (WAS)
#19 - 24% - 1' 43"
#20 - 55% - 1' 00"

DETROIT CORRIDOR
(W) - 60% - 12"
(E) - 59% - 23"

ST. LOUIS CORRIDOR
(W) - 68% - 32"
(E) - 58% - 1' 00"

BUFFALO CORRIDOR
(W) - 11% - 48"
(E) - 58% - 28"

KANSAS CITY CORRIDOR
(W) - 87% - 30"
(E) - 80% - 23"

The number of trains operated was about 2/3's of the scheduled service on those routes. Amtrak cancelled or annulled 407 trains on these routes.

The only services which are performing at an acceptable level are the "City of New Orleans" (which has more than 2' of padding in each direction) and the KCY Corridor. The worst performer in this period was the westbound BUF Corridor.

Of the causes for delay which Amtrak posted:

56 were Amtrak mechanical; 114 were from the host carrier; 14 were weather-related; 11 were 3rd party interference; and 3 were Amtrak hold for connections. Of course, Amtrak does not provide full information on the Twitter Delay sites as there are many entries of trains being late without any explanation.

Given the reduction in the number of freight trains operated by the host carriers, the 52% OT score is really nothing to cheer about. While the average delay is certainly not optimal, it is better than becoming a rock at 35,000-ft altitude. Unfortunately, given the present senior management, it is not likely to show substantial improvement in the near future.

Mr. Lustig, an important point your partial survey brings out is that no road is willfully delaying Amtrak trains. No one can expect a road to do anything to affect "buttering the bread"; but with the bargain basement rates that Amtrak pays to access their rights of way, as the Late Randy Resor (NellieBly) often pointed out to the "run'em on time or you go to jail" advocacy crowd, Amtrak simply "gets what they pay for".

Mr. Norman, I think that the key adjective in your comment is "willfully" when referring to delays. When I broke out where delays occurred on the DET Corridor a few reviews ago, I was surprised to see the number that occurred on the Amtrak line between Porter and Dearborn as well as the number that regained time on NS west of Porter.

I would not expect a host carrier to provide expedited running to make up time lost due to Amtrak-caused mechanical delays. If anything, I would expect a train so delayed to lose additional time en route, especially if it runs in one of the more heavily trafficked corridors such as Peekskill / Poughkeepsie on Metro North. In some instances, the only saving grace is the extensive padding found in many of Amtrak schedules.

Still, AFAIK, Amtrak does not have supervisory personnel actually riding the head-end on trains or observing host-carrier train dispatching in real time. I think that if they did, we might see an improvement in performance.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:02 pm Mr. Lustig, an important point your partial survey brings out is that no road is willfully delaying Amtrak trains. No one can expect a road to do anything to affect "buttering the bread"; but with the bargain basement rates that Amtrak pays to access their rights of way, as the Late Randy Resor (NellieBly) often pointed out to the "run'em on time or you go to jail" advocacy crowd, Amtrak simply "gets what they pay for".

Excellent point. Given the above numbers from Mr. Lustig, we have about 1/3 of delays from Amtrak mechanical and 2/3 from host roads. If the carrier was operationally at/near breakeven before 2020, and if a small subsidy is not repulsive to most, perhaps upgrading the maintenance and trackage rights budgets would help the delay numbers? Especially for the corridor/regional trains where improved timekeeping and unplanned delays would have a real impact on ridership.

In response to an off-line query:

Yes, within the limited information available on the Amtrak Twitter delay postings, it is fairly common to have more than one cause of delay for a specific train. If a train is delayed because of "congestion" on a host carrier and then has a mechanical problem at an Amtrak terminal, both delays are counted.

improbed timekeepig will also allow more time for preventative maintenance (PM)