Amtrak's Long-Distance Train Performance
December 2017
Thirty-five percent of Amtrak's named long-distance trains arrived at their final destination on time or earlier during December 2017.
The average arrival of all long-distance trains in the survey period was one hour late.
The average arrival of the 65 percent of trains that were behind schedule was one hour and 32 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 distorts precise performance data.)
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 December 2017 was as follows:
Train
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
Auto Train 76 %
18 mins late
1 hour, 15 mins late
California Zephyr 50 %
46 mins late
1 hour, 32 mins late
Capitol Limited 31 %
1 hour, 9 mins late
1 hour, 40 mins late
Cardinal 30 %
1 hour, 11 mins late
1 hour, 41 mins late
Carolinian 43 %
26 mins late
45 mins late
City of New Orleans 29 %
53 mins late
1 hour, 14 mins late
Coast Starlight 42 %
1 hour, 2 mins late
1 hour, 47 mins late
Crescent 6 %
2 hours, 6 mins late
2 hours, 15 mins late
Empire Builder 61 %
48 mins late
2 hours, 1 min late
Lake Shore Limited 12 %
1 hour, 43 mins late
1 hour, 58 mins late
Maple Leaf 44 %
28 mins late
50 mins late
Palmetto 16 %
37 mins late
45 mins late
Silver Meteor 16 %
1 hour, 48 mins late
2 hours, 8 mins late
Silver Star 15 %
1 hour, 18 mins late
1 hour, 31 mins late
Southwest Chief 56 %
25 mins late
58 mins late
Sunset Limited 41 %
1 hour, 6 mins late
1 hour, 51 mins late
Texas Eagle 41 %
1 hour, 12 mins late
2 hours, 3 mins late
Vermonter 26 %
35 mins late
47 mins late
Daily Recap . . . . .
Date
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
Friday, December 1 43 %
43 mins late
1 hour, 17 mins late
Saturday, December 2 51 %
51 mins late
1 hour, 45 mins late
Sunday, December 3 44 %
23 mins late
42 mins late
Monday, December 4 64 %
15 mins late
42 mins late
Tuesday, December 5 43 %
38 mins late
1 hour, 7 mins late
Wednesday, December 6 36 %
57 mins late
1 hour, 29 mins late
Thursday, December 7 44 %
28 mins late
50 mins late
Friday, December 8 29 %
1 hour, 10 mins late
1 hour, 39 mins late
Saturday, December 9 30 %
1 hour, 6 mins late
1 hour, 35 mins late
Sunday, December 10 44 %
40 mins late
1 hour, 1 min late
Monday, December 11 50 %
37 mins late
1 hour, 14 mins late
Tuesday, December 12 36 %
49 mins late
1 hour, 17 mins late
Wednesday, December 13 38 %
32 mins late
52 mins late
Thursday, December 14 18 %
1 hour, 22 mins late
1 hour, 40 mins late
Friday, December 15 29 %
1 hour, 4 mins late
1 hour, 30 mins late
Saturday, December 16 44 %
41 mins late
1 hour, 13 mins late
Sunday, December 17 44 %
48 mins late
1 hour, 26 mins late
Monday, December 18 26 %
39 mins late
53 mins late
Tuesday, December 19 24 %
1 hour, 2 mins late
1 hour, 21 mins late
Wednesday, December 20 28 %
1 hour, 3 mins late
1 hour, 28 mins late
Thursday, December 21 26 %
1 hour, 17 mins late
1 hour, 44 mins late
Friday, December 22 19 %
1 hour, 14 mins late
1 hour, 32 mins late
Saturday, December 23 20 %
1 hour, 19 mins late
1 hour, 39 mins late
Christmas Eve 44 %
46 mins late
1 hour, 24 mins late
Christmas Day 75 %
19 mins late
1 hour, 16 mins late
Tuesday, December 26 35 %
54 mins late
1 hour, 23 mins late
Wednesday, December 27 12 %
1 hour, 28 mins late
1 hour, 40 mins late
Thursday, December 28 15 %
1 hour, 41 mins late
1 hour, 59 mins late
Friday, December 29 16 %
1 hour, 50 mins late
2 hours, 11 mins late
Saturday, December 30 26 %
2 hours, 26 mins late
3 hours, 19 mins late
New Year's Eve 30 %
1 hour, 55 mins late
2 hours, 45 mins late
Composite for Month 35 %
1 hour late
1 hour, 32 mins late
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Month's Comparison, Last Year vs This Year:
Month
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Avg arrival if late
December 2016 35 %
54 mins late
1 hour, 23 mins late
December 2017 35 %
1 hour late
1 hour, 32 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
December 2017 35 %
1 hour late
1 hour, 32 mins late
Composite for 2017 30 %
1 hour late
1 hour, 27 mins late
Composite for 2016 40 %
45 mins late
1 hour, 14 mins late
.