U.S. Department 1200 New JerseyAvenue, SE

of Transportation Washington, DC 20590

Federal Railroad

Administration

MAR 20 2009

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye

Chairman

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Section 154 of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related

Agencies Appropriations Act, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-8) requires the Federal Railroad

Administrator to "submit a quarterly report on April 1,2009, and quarterly reports

thereafter, to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations detailing the

Administrator's efforts at improving the on-time performance of Amtrak intercity rail

service operating on non-Amtrak owned property. Such reports shall compare the most

recent actual on-time performance data to pre-established on-time performance goals that

the Administrator shall set for each rail service, identified by route. Such reports shall

also include whatever other information and data regarding the on-time performance of

Amtrak trains the Administrator deems to be appropriate."

I am pleased to submit the report that is due on April 1, 2009 in accordance with this

requirement. I hope that the information contained in the enclosed report will assist the

Committee in its work.

Identical letters have been sent to the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on

Appropriations, and to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on

Appropriations.

2dY'oz...<,.~

Acting Dep

Enclosures
April 1, 2009

April 2009 Report on Amtrak On-Time Performance

Submitted by the Federal Railroad Acting Deputy Administrator

Under Section 154 of Pub. L. 111-8

This report includes two sections: (1) an update on recent Federal Railroad

Administration (FRA) efforts to catalyze improvements in Amtrak's on-time

performance (OTP); and (2) in keeping with the FRA's January 1, 2009 OTP report, an

update on Amtrak OTP results and performance against FRA-established goals.

(1) Recent OTP Improvement Actions

Southeast Corridor. Amtrak continues to benefit from reductions in freight train

interference and slow orders as a result of the Southeast (1-95) Corridor Performance

Improvement Plan, which the FRA required of Amtrak management as part of the Fiscal

Year (FY) 2007 Grant Agreement between the FRA and Amtrak. For example, in

December 2008, freight train interference and slow order delays each decreased by more

than 30 percent year-over-year on this corridor. These delay reductions correlate with

OTP improvements that Amtrak's Southeast Corridor trains have experienced in FY 2009

through January. During this period, the Auto Train's endpoint OTP was 90.4 percent,

one of the highest in the Amtrak System, while the Carolinian, Palmetto, Silver Star, and

Silver Meteor have all had year-over-year double digit percentage point increases in OTP.

Most notably, the fiscal year-to-date OTP for the Silver Meteor's long distance service

was 82.9 percent through January 2009, which was better than that for a majority of

Amtrak's corridor trains.

California Zephyr. The Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Amtrak continue to

implement their 2007 agreement to reduce delays on UP's portion of the California

Zephyr, which extends from Denver, Colorado to Emeryville, California. As part of the

agreement, Amtrak temporarily added time to the Zephyr's schedule to account for track

improvement work that the UP is performing. As track work is completed, Amtrak is

gradually removing the added time from the schedule, as demonstrated in the Fall 2008-

Winter 2009 published timetable, which removed over an hour from the Zephyr's

schedule. While the Union Pacific continues to make progress in reducing slow orders

on the Zephyr's route, Amtrak and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway are

also implementing a performance improvement plan (initiated at the insistence of the

U.S. Department of TransportationIFRA) for the BNSF's portion of the route between

Chicago, Illinois and Denver, Colorado.

Other Recent OTP Developments. Increased Federal interest in Amtrak's OTP--as

reflected in the FY 2009 Appropriations Act, the Passenger Rail Investment and

Improvement Act of 2008, and intensified U.S. Department of TransportationIFRA

involvement as detailed in prior reports of this series-has led to significant reductions in

freight train intelference on certain host railroads. During the first quarter of FY 2009,

freight train interference delays per train-mile were down approximately 50 percent yearover-year on both the Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific railroads. Amtrak attributes

these substantial improvements primarily to management actions at each of these host

railroads. As a result, a number of Amtrak routes on these host railroads have had

notable year-over-year improvements in on-time performance. These include the

Capitols, Texas Eagle, and Sunset Limited on the Union Pacific as well as the
April 2009 Report on Amtrak On-Time Performance Page 2

Pennsylvanian and Crescent on Norfolk Southern. The Pennsylvanian and the Capitols

have the best endpoint OTP (95.9 and 93.1 percent respectively for the fiscal year-to-date

through January 2009) in the Amtrak system, while the Crescent has the second best

endpoint OTP among the long distance trains (83.3 percent for the fiscal year-to-date).

The Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle, which historically have been among Amtrak's least

on time trains, have had year-aver-year OTP increases of 54.3 and 24.4 percentage points

respectively through January FY 2009.

(2) Goals and Route Performance

Attachment A contains updated OTP statistics for all Amtrak routes for the fiscal year-todate through January 2009. As the attachment illustrates, just over half the routes (23)

have had improvements in oTP (in terms of both improved percent on time and no

decrease in effective speed) through January FY 2009. Of those routes experiencing oTP

improvement, a total of 13 (five corridor-type and eight long-distance trains) are meeting

or are surpassing their FRA-defined oTP target for FY 2009.

For FY 2009, the percent on time across the entire Amtrak system through January was

76.1 percent, an increase of 3.5 percentage points over the previous year. Although the

Northeast Corridor has experienced a small decline in endpoint OT:P through January

2009, Amtrak's other corridor routes have experienced a four percentage-point increase

year-aver-year (for an average endpoint oTP of 76.3 percent) while the long distance

trains have experienced a nine-point increase during the same period (for an average

endpoint oTP of 69 percent). Fmther highlighting these oTP improvements, over a third

of Amtrak's routes have experienced an improvement in endpoint oTP of ten percentage

points or greater through January 2009.
Attachment A

Amtrak On-Time Performance: FY 2009

Year-tOMDate TotaIs throuelhJanuarv

Test 2: ./

Test I: Constant or Indicates Higher Percent On Time BeUer Effective both YTD •Jan. 2009 vs. YTD -Jan. 2008 Speed tests

%

were % Variance

met for Change Proposed from Change in MPH

OTP FY09 % from Target for FY09 from October

Progress On Time FY08 FY09 Tarl!et 2007 Baseline

Northeast Corridor Service (Goal proposedfor FY 2012: 95%)

Acela 84.0% (0.8%) I 90.7% (6.7%) (2.1 )

Regional Service 75.8% (1.4%) I 84.8% (9.0%) (3.7)

Other Corridor Services (Goal proposed for FY2012: 90%. Minimum target proposedfor FY 2009: 75%)

Adirondack ./ 59.3% 20.7% 75.0% (15.7%) 1.5

Blue Water ./ 39.7% 11.2% 75.0% (35.3%) 0.6

Cauitols ./ 93.1% 7.6% 80.8% 12.3% 1.5

Carolinian ./ 65.6% 18.4% . 75.0% (9.4%) 2.8

Cascades ./ 67.8% 3.0% 75.0% (7.2%) 0.1

Downeaster 57.4% (9.5%) 82.8% (25.4%) (2.1)

Emuire Service 78.8% 9.0% 79.0% (0.3%) (1.8)

Ethan Allen Express 56.7% 34.7% 75.0% (18.3%) (4.5)

Heartland Flyer ./ 70.7% 11.8% 75.0% (4.3%) 4.2

Hiawatha 82.0% (4.4%) 89.5% (7.5%) (2.0)

Hoosier State 35.8% (4.9%) 75.0% (39.2%) (0.6)

IIIini 62.2% 6.7% 77.4% (15.1%) (1.4)

Illinois Zephyr ./ 78.2% 3.8% 75.1% 3.1% 0.4

Keystone 87.0% (0.1 %) 87.2% (0.2%) 0.2

Lincoln Service ./ 60.0% 1.6% 75.0% (15.0%) 0.6

Maple Leaf ./ 50.4% 9.3% 75.0% (24.6%) 0.7

Missouri Services ./ 46.6% 31.9% 75.0% (28.4%) 2.2

Pacific Surfliner ./ 81.7% 0.8% 80.9% 0.8% 0.2

Pennsylvanian ./ 95.9% 7.3% 78.9% 17.0% 1.3

Pere MarqUelle 28.9% 4.1% 75.0% (46.1%) (0.5)

Piedmont 76.8% (3.2%) 80.6% (3.8%) (I.I )

San Joaquins ./ 87.3% 1.6% 76.8% 10.6% 1.8

Vermonter 86.6% 42.7% 75.0% 11.6% (0.6)

Wolverines 34.8% 3.4% 75.0% (40.2%) (0.5)

Long Distance Trains (Goal proposed for FY2012: 85%. Minimum larKet proposedfor FY2009: 66%)

Auto Train ./ 90.4% 1.4% 71.3% 19.1% 1.6

California Zeuhvr 43.9% (2.8%) 66.3% (22.4%) 4.5

Capitol Limited ./ 53.3% 8.5% 66.3% (13.0%) 2.7

Cardinal 34.9% (4.1%) 66.3% (31.3%) (1.0)

City of New Orleans 77.0% (7.6%) 85.0% (8.0%) (0.4)

Coast Starlight ./ 71.4% 21.2% 66.3% 5.2% 1.3

Crescent ./ 83.3% 9.3% 66.3% 17.1% 1.2

Empire Builder 64.9% (5.5%) 78.0% (13.2%) (1.3)

Lake Shore Limited ./ 67.9% 14.9% 66.3% 1.7% 2.9

Palmello ./ 71.9% 14.2% 66.3% 5.7% 4.1

Silver Meteor ./ 82.9% 12.7% 66.3% 16.6% 2.3

Silver Star ./ 71.5% 26.8% 66.3% 5.3% 1.3

Southwest Chief 80.9% (0.8%) 70.1% 10.8% 0.3

Sunset Limited ./ 71.4% 54.3% 66.3% 5.2% 2.6

Texas Eagle ./ 56.5% 24.4% 66.3% (9.7%) 1.0