FRA Report: Amtrak OTP Still Leaves Much to be Desired

In its “Quarterly Report on the Performance and Service Quality of Intercity Passenger Train Operations” covering Amtrak’s 2023 second fiscal quarter (January to March), the Federal Railroad Administration notes that Amtrak trains experienced approximately 1.31 million minutes (21,833 hours; 909.7 days; 129.9 weeks; 10.82 months) of delay, down 4% from the previous quarter and a 14% increase over the second quarter of FY 2022.

FRA said the largest cause of delay was “freight train interference” at 234,110 minutes of delay (3,901.8 hours; 162.6 days; 23.2 weeks; 1.9 months), 18% of total delay time, a 7% decrease from the previous quarter and a 10% decrease from the second quarter of FY 2022. Other significant causes of delay were “passenger train interference, slow orders, and signals.”

FRA tracks delay minutes for each Amtrak train according to 40 individual delay codes across three categories: Host Responsible Delays (including freight train interference and slow orders on the track), Amtrak Responsible Delays (including equipment problems and delays related to passenger loading and unloading), and Third Party Responsible Delays (primarily weather-related). The routes with the highest OTP in this quarter were the Keystone, 96%; Adirondack, 93%; and Empire Service (New York – Albany, 92%. Those with the lowest were the California Zephyr; 31%; Empire Builder; 38%; and Heartland Flyer, 38%.

FRA noted that the report “again provides an opportunity to apply the customer OTP minimum standard described in the rule that establishes metrics and minimum standards for measuring the performance and service quality of intercity passenger train operations (49 C.F.R 273): 80% customer OTP for any two consecutive calendar quarters. Of the trains that operated in either the first or second quarter of FY 2023, 69% met the 80%customer OTP standard, 23% did not meet the standard, and 8% did not operate in one of the two quarters.

A “normalized” delay metric, minutes of delay per 10,000 train-miles, is included in the report for all Amtrak-responsible and host-responsible delays. In the second quarter of FY 2023, Amtrak trains traveled 8.8 million train-miles, a 2% decrease from the first quarter of FY 2023 and an 18% increase over the second quarter of FY 2022. FRA singled out Union Pacific as the Class I host railroad with the largest number of host-responsible delay minutes per 10,000 train-miles—1,442 minutes. Canadian Pacific (now CPKC) had the lowest number of host-responsible delay minutes per 10,000 train-miles—597 minutes). For each Class I host railroad, freight train interference comprised the largest number of delay minutes per 10,000 train-miles.

The report also includes responses to Amtrak’s customer satisfaction survey, designated by route in this report. Customers rated 68% (30 of 44) of routes as 80% or higher in terms of overall satisfaction. Two routes were below 70%.

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