Attachment A

Amtrak On-Time Performance: FY 2009
Year-to-Date Totals through August.

v Test 2:
. t nstant or
Indicates Higher Percent On Time etter Effective
tests YTD - August 2009 ys. YTD - August 2008 Speed
were % Variance
met for Change | Proposed from Change in MPH
OTP FY09 % from Target for FY09 from October 2007
Progress | On Time FY08 FY09 ‘Target Baseline
Northeast Corridor Service (Goal proposed for FY 2012: 95%)
Acela 87.0% 3.2% 90.7% | (3.7%) (cr)
Regional Service 79.5% 4.0% 84.8% | (5.3%) d.3)
Other Corridor Services (Goal proposed for FY 2012: 90%. Minimum target proposed for FY 2009: 75%)
Adirondack v 56.7% 13.6% 75.0% (18.3%) 2.0
Blue Water v 50.7% 22.0% 75.0% _| (24.3%) La
Capitols v 92.2% 6.9% 80.8% 11.4% LS
Carolinian x 57.3% 19.6% 75.0% _| (17.7%) 2.0
Cascades 4 TL1% 6.3% 75.0% (3.9%) 0.6
Downeaster 73.7% 3.8% 82.8% (9.1%) (0.6)
Empire Service 82.4% 10.1% 79.0%. 3.4% (1.6)
Ethan Allen Express 53.4% 18.8% 75.0% (21.6%) (2.1)
Heartland Flyer v 82.9% 31.5% 75.0% 7.9% 4.8
Hiawatha 87.4% 0.3% 89.5% | (2.1%) (0.7)
Hoosier State v 51.7% 9.9% 75.0% (23.3%) 0.8
Mini 48.6% | (0.8%) | 77.4% | (28.8%) (1.7)
Illinois Zephyr v 87.7% 10.2% 75.1% 12.5% 09
Keystone v 89.7% 1.7% 87.2% 2.5% 0.3
Lincoln Service v 72.3% 30.4% 75.0% (2.7%) L8
Maple Leaf v 59.6% 15.8% 75.0% _| (15.4%) 12
Missouri Services v 118% 52.6% 75.0% B.2%) 49
Pacific Surfliner A 83.1% 1.2% 80.9% 2.2% 0.3
Pennsylvanian v 96.1% 9.3% 78.9% 17.2% 1.2
Pere Marquette v 35.8% 12.1% 75.0% _|_(39.2%) 0.5
Piedmont 75.5% 4.3% 80.6% (5.1%) (0.9)
San Joaquins v 90.0% 7.6% 76.8% 13.2% 2.0
Vermonter v 88.4% 52.5% 75.0% 13.4% 04
Wolverines v 43.0% 15.6% 75.0% _| (32.0%) 0.6
Long Distance Trains (Goal proposed for FY 2012: 85%. Minimum target proposed for FY 2009: 66%)
Auto Train v 88.1% 74% 11.3% 16.8% 1.5
California Zephyr v 58.2% 25.9% 66.3% | (8.1%) 44
Capitol Limited v 69.7% 35.1% 66.3% 3.5% 3.3
Cardinal 45.6% 13.0% 66.3% _| (20.7%) (0.4)
City of New Orleans 82.6% 18.7% 85.0% (2.4%) (0.2)
Coast Starlight v 81.5% 18.5% 66.3% 15.3% 18
Crescent v 84.5% 18.0% 66.3% 18.3% 1.0
Empire Builder 74.5% 71% 78.0% (3.5%) (0.3)
Lake Shore Limited v 74.1% 16.5% 66.3% 8.5% 3.6
Palmetto v 66.9% 16.3% 66.3% 0.7% 3.7
Silver Meteor v 71.3% 6.3% 66.3% 5.1% 1.6
Silver Star v 66.0% 23.2% 66.3% _| (0.2%) L4
Southwest Chief v 84.8% 19.8% 70.1% 14.7% 0.5
Sunset Limited v 78.4% 53.4% 66.3% 12.2% 2.8
Texas Eagle v 73.3% 55.7% 66.3% 71% 1.6



@

U.S. Department Administrator 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
of Transportation Washington, DC 20590

Federal Railroad
Administration

SEP 22 “299
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.”

lam pleased to submit the report 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.

Sincerely,

a Ale

Joseph C. Szabo
Administrator

Enclosures


October 1, 2009

October 2009 Report on Amtrak On-Time Performance
Submitted by the Federal Railroad 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 July 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 slow orders and freight train
interference as a result of the Southeast (I-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 August 2009, slow order delays impacting
Amtrak trains on the Southeast Corridor (SEC) decreased by 11 minutes compared to the
previous year lowering the average slow order delays to 18 minutes per trip. In the same month,
freight train interference delays decreased by 8 minutes compared to the previous year, which
also lowered average freight train interference delays to 18 minutes per trip.

These delay reductions coincide with an increase in on-time arrivals among SEC trains through
August 2009; however, the overall OTP levels of the routes traversing this corridor have varied.
The Auto Train had the highest endpoint OTP among Amtrak’s long-distance trains (88.1
percént) through August 2009 and achieved an on-time performance of 100 percent in the month
of August. Meetings between Amtrak and CSX have occurred to discuss removing some of the
additional hour that was added to the Auto Train’s Spring - Summer 2008 published timetable
while operational and infrastructure improvements were implemented on the corridor. The
Palmetto, Carolinian, and Silver Star have experienced notable year-over-year improvements to
their endpoint OTP through August 2009 (increases of 16, 20, and 23 percentage points
respectively). Overall, however, these three routes are in Amtrak’s bottom half for on-time
arrivals.

California Zephyr: The Union Pacific (UP) Railroad 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 the UP’s track improvement work. As track
work has been completed, Amtrak has gradually removed the added time from the schedule. The
final hour of added time is scheduled to be removed in Amtrak’s next published timetable
(October 2009).

Other Recent OTP Developments: Amtrak and UP recently made significant progress on the
performance improvement plan for the UP’s portion of the Chicago — St. Louis corridor. The
focus on the corridor has contributed to recent OTP improvements for Amtrak trains. For
example, the endpoint OTP for the Chicago — St. Louis Lincoln Service is 72.3 percent through
August, which year-over-year, is a 30 percentage point improvement.


Amtrak met with the major freight host railroads during the second week of September for a
performance improvement plan progress review meeting. While the plans continue to move
forward, implementation of identified action items across Amtrak’s network is expected to
accelerate upon completion of the Section 207 Metrics and Standards within the Passenger Rail
Investment and Improvement Act of 2008. Amtrak and FRA developed and published
preliminary metrics and standards for Amtrak’s performance, which were released for public
comment. Amtrak and FRA have reviewed the submitted comments and are currently in the
process of finalizing these performance measures.

(2) Goals and Route Performance

Attachment A contains updated OTP statistics for all Amtrak routes for the fiscal year-to-date
through August 2009. As the attachment illustrates, three-fourths of the routes (30) have had
improvements in OTP (in terms of both improved percent on time and no decrease in effective
speed) through August 2009. Of those routes experiencing OTP improvement, a total of 19 (nine
corridor-type and ten long-distance trains) are meeting or are surpassing their FRA-defined OTP
target for FY 2009.

For FY 2009, the on-time performance across the entire Amtrak system through August was 80
percent, an increase of 9.2 percentage points over the previous year. Amtrak’s short distance
routes outside of the Northeast Corridor (i.e. “Other Corridor Services”) have experienced a 10
percentage-point increase year-over-year (for an average endpoint OTP of 80.2 percent) while
the long-distance trains have experienced a 20 percentage-point increase during the same period
(for an average endpoint OTP of 74.3 percent). Further highlighting these fiscal year-to-date on-
time improvements, all but one of Amtrak’s routes have experienced increases in endpoint OTP
through August and almost two-thirds have had endpoint OTP increases of ten percentage points
or greater.

In summary, while much progress is needed to bring Amtrak’s OTP to satisfactory levels, FY
2009 has seen gathering momentum that can only be helped by further cooperation between
Amtrak and the freight railroads, and the prospect of noteworthy State-sponsored investments
under FRA’s ongoing High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program.