Amtrak's Long-Distance Train Performance
November 2017
Thirty-three percent of Amtrak's named long-distance trains arrived at their final destination on time or earlier during November 2017.
The average arrival of all long-distance trains in the survey period was 48 minutes late.
The average arrival of the 67 percent of trains that were behind schedule was one hour and 12 minutes late.
A train is considered late whenever it arrives at its final destination behind schedule, even 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. (Amtrak uses grace allowances in presenting its on-time data, which this survey does not.)
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, referred by Amtrak as 'service disrupted,' or provided with insufficient data are typically excluded.
This survey was compiled by the Bull Sheet's statistical department comprehending actual performance as reported for each affected train as reported on Amtrak's website.
Individual train performance in the month of November 2017 was as follows:
Train
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
Auto Train 65 %
22 mins late
1 hour, 3 mins late
California Zephyr 48 %
36 mins late
1 hour, 9 mins late
Capitol Limited 17 %
1 hour, 3 mins late
1 hour, 15 mins late
Cardinal 31 %
58 mins late
1 hour, 24 mins late
Carolinian 32 %
38 mins late
56 mins late
City of New Orleans 28 %
48 mins late
1 hour, 7 mins late
Coast Starlight 38 %
34 mins late
56 mins late
Crescent 7 %
1 hour, 35 mins late
1 hour, 42 mins late
Empire Builder 76 %
14 mins late
58 mins late
Lake Shore Limited 12 %
1 hour, 23 mins late
1 hour, 35 mins late
Maple Leaf 37 %
15 mins late
24 mins late
Palmetto 10 %
44 mins late
49 mins late
Silver Meteor 18 %
1 hour, 17 mins late
1 hour, 35 mins late
Silver Star 15 %
1 hour, 31 mins late
1 hour, 47 mins late
Southwest Chief 53 %
41 mins late
1 hour, 27 mins late
Sunset Limited 67 %
9 mins late
27 mins late
Texas Eagle 28 %
48 mins late
1 hour, 8 mins late
Vermonter 20 %
25 mins late
31 mins late
Daily Recap . . . . .
Date
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
Wednesday, November 1 23 %
1 hour, 4 mins late
1 hour, 23 mins late
Thursday, November 2 23 %
54 mins late
1 hour, 10 mins late
Friday, November 3 24 %
40 mins late
53 mins late
Saturday, November 4 20 %
1 hour late
1 hour, 15 mins late
Sunday, November 5 * 38 %
26 mins late
42 mins late
Monday, November 6 34 %
56 mins late
1 hour, 25 mins late
Tuesday, November 7 17 %
50 mins late
1 hour late
Wednesday, November 8 36 %
1 hour, 15 mins late
1 hour, 57 mins late
Thursday, November 9 20 %
40 mins late
50 mins late
Friday, November 10 25 %
1 hour, 6 mins late
1 hour, 28 mins late
Veterans Day 29 %
1 hour, 19 mins late
1 hour, 50 mins late
Sunday, November 12 50 %
43 mins late
1 hour, 25 mins late
Monday, November 13 31 %
1 hour, 5 mins late
1 hour, 33 mins late
Tuesday, November 14 34 %
52 mins late
1 hour, 19 mins late
Wednesday, November 15 24 %
46 mins late
1 hour late
Thursday, November 16 17 %
1 hour, 10 mins late
1 hour, 25 mins late
Friday, November 17 43 %
22 mins late
39 mins late
Saturday, November 18 26 %
47 mins late
1 hour, 4 mins late
Sunday, November 19 37 %
56 mins late
1 hour, 29 mins late
Monday, November 20 19 %
1 hour, 22 mins late
1 hour, 41 mins late
Tuesday, November 21 26 %
45 mins late
1 hour, 1 min late
Wednesday, November 22 31 %
46 mins late
1 hour, 7 mins late
Thanksgiving Day 46 %
25 mins late
46 mins late
Friday, November 24 58 %
20 mins late
47 mins late
Saturday, November 25 51 %
33 mins late
1 hour, 7 mins late
Sunday, November 26 53 %
21 mins late
44 mins late
Monday, November 27 31 %
49 mins late
1 hour, 11 mins late
Tuesday, November 28 40 %
31 mins late
52 mins late
Wednesday, November 29 47 %
25 mins late
48 mins late
Thursday, November 30 37 %
50 mins late
1 hour, 20 mins late
. .
.
.
Composite for Month 33 %
48 mins late
1 hour, 12 mins late
* Overnight trains arriving November 5 had one hour of additional padding in their journey due to change to standard time.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Month's Comparison, Last Year vs This Year:
Month
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
November 2016 38 %
46 mins late
1 hour, 14 mins late
November 2017 33 %
48 mins late
1 hour, 12 mins late
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Monthly Recap, This Year
Month
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
January 2017 39 %
59 mins late
1 hour, 37 mins late
February 2017 40 %
50 mins late
1 hour, 24 mins late
March 2017 26 %
1 hour, 9 mins late
1 hour, 33 mins late
April 2017 31 %
52 mins late
1 hour, 16 mins late
May 2017 28 %
1 hour, 6 mins late
1 hour, 31 mins late
June 2017 20 %
1 hour, 13 mins late
1 hour, 32 mins late
July 2017 22 %
1 hour, 19 mins late
1 hour, 41 mins late
August 2017 26 %
1 hour, 2 mins late
1 hour, 24 mins late
September 2017 34 %
49 mins late
1 hour, 14 mins late
October 2017 31 %
55 mins late
1 hour, 20 mins late
November 2017 33 %
48 mins late
1 hour, 12 mins late