Amtrak's Long-Distance Train Performance
December 2016
For the month of December 2016, the Bull Sheet has calculated that 35 percent of Amtrak's named long-distance trains arrived at their final destination on time or earlier.
The average arrival of all long-distance trains in the survey period was 54 minutes late.
The average arrival of the 65 percent of trains that were behind schedule was one hour and 23 minutes late.
A train is considered late whenever it arrives at its final destination behind schedule, even if only by a minute. Sufficient padding is incorporated into long-distance train schedules to eliminate the need for grace allowances in showing a train arriving on time when it is actually nominally late.
Trains arriving ahead of schedule are shown 'on time,' with no extra credit given to offset other arrivals that are late. Trains that are canceled, truncated or presented by Amtrak as being 'service disrupted' are typically excluded from the data.
This survey was compiled by the Bull Sheet's statistical department comprehending actual performance as reported for each affected train on Amtrak's website.
Individual train performance over the course of the month of December 2016 was as follows:
Train
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
Auto Train 44 %
53 mins late
1 hour, 35 mins late
California Zephyr 44 %
1 hour, 8 mins late
2 hours late
Capitol Limited 29 %
51 mins late
1 hour, 12 mins late
Cardinal 52 %
52 mins late
1 hour, 48 mins late
Carolinian 34 %
27 mins late
41 mins late
City of New Orleans 42 %
39 mins late
1 hour, 8 mins late
Coast Starlight 32 %
1 hour, 25 mins late
2 hours, 6 mins late
Crescent 29 %
33 mins late
46 mins late
Empire Builder 28 %
1 hour, 57 mins late
2 hours, 43 mins late
Lake Shore Limited 18 %
1 hour, 29 mins late
1 hour, 48 mins late
Maple Leaf 27 %
27 mins late
37 mins late
Palmetto 16 %
33 mins late
39 mins late
Silver Meteor 29 %
1 hour, 2 mins late
1 hour, 28 mins late
Silver Star 33 %
54 mins late
1 hour, 22 mins late
Southwest Chief 71 %
46 mins late
2 hours, 37 late
Sunset Limited 73 %
18 mins late
1 hour, 7 mins late
Texas Eagle 58 %
28 mins late
1 hour, 7 mins late
Vermonter 13 %
27 mins late
31 mins late
RECAP - 12 months of 2016 . . . . .
Recap 12 months
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
JANUARY 2016 55 %
31 mins late
1 hour, 8 mins late
FEBRUARY 2016 50 %
34 mins late
1 hour, 7 mins late
MARCH 2016 44 %
40 mins late
1 hour, 12 mins late
APRIL 2016 44 %
36 mins late
1 hour, 4 mins late
MAY 2016 41 %
38 mins late
1 hour, 6 mins late
JUNE 2016 29 %
1 hour, 2 mins late
1 hour, 26 mins late
JULY 2016 30 %
59 mins late
1 hour, 24 mins late
AUGUST 2016 33 %
48 mins late
1 hour, 12 mins late
SEPTEMBER 2016 38 %
41 mins late
1 hour, 6 mins late
OCTOBER 2016 38 %
44 mins late
1 hour, 12 mins late
NOVEMBER 2016 38 %
46 mins late
1 hour, 14 mins late
DECEMBER 2016 35 %
54 mins late
1 hour, 23 mins late