late trains

[b0m5jgr]

I have a trip coming in May 2017, Syracuse to Orlando. I have been following on Amtrak location map trains #97 & #98. I have found that the past 2 months both trains have been late about 75% of the time, anywhere from a few minutes to over 6 hours. I understand that CSX owns most of the track and freight gets preference but how can both these trains be late as much as they are. Are there any other answers?

 

[CCC1007]

I'm looking at the official numbers from Amtrak for trains 91, 92, 97, and 98. Combined they have about 49.5% on time performance, and their definition in this case is no more than 30 minutes late.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Yes...it's a 1400 mile trip through one of the the busiest North-South routes on the east coast. If you're using the last two months as reference, that means it is summer, which brings heat restrictions and track project. Both of these leads to congestion, which leads to delays.

 

[pennyk]

I arrived early in NYP on 98 last Thursday (when I expected to be late because of TS Julia).

Last month, I arrived early in WAS on 98.

I am on 97 right now and we are pretty much on time... so far.

I travel on the Silvers quite regularly and, in my experience, we are late less than half the time. The reasons for being late can be flash flood warnings, freight traffic, crossing accidents, mechanical, etc.

Edit - I spoke too soon about being on time.... We are now stopped and HEP is off. I am listening to my scanner, but do not really understand what is going on other than a mechanical problem. HEP is now back on, which is a good sign.

 

[b0m5jgr]

First thank you to everyone that responded to my topic. I went back to ASMAD train status for arrival times from 1/2/16 - present, as per the info provided train # 97 was on time or early arrival 60 out of 251 times. Which to me is not very good, that's less than 25% of the time. As of train #98 that train was either early or on time 65 out or 255 times, again that's about 25% of the time. So I'm just trying to understand why these trains are late that much. Thanks again.

 

[SarahZ]

First thank you to everyone that responded to my topic. I went back to ASMAD train status for arrival times from 1/2/16 - present, as per the info provided train # 97 was on time or early arrival 60 out of 251 times. Which to me is not very good, that's less than 25% of the time. As of train #98 that train was either early or on time 65 out or 255 times, again that's about 25% of the time. So I'm just trying to understand why these trains are late that much. Thanks again.

Penny and Thirdrail answered these questions in the other topic.

MODERATOR EDIT: the two topics were merged so the answers are shown above.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Just to mention, I just caught an "I Love Lucy" episode, and in that, the NYC to Miami train was an hour late. True, its fictional, but does point out that LD east-coast trains even back then, were known to be sometimes late.

From my own personal experience, the Silvers are all over the place. Sometimes very late (26 hours for me once), and sometimes early. I have to add that while I regularly have backup plans for various amounts of being late, the hour early train really thrown my plans into a tizzy. Thankfully, I was able to waste-away that hour in the Acela lounge.

 

[keelhauled]

First thank you to everyone that responded to my topic. I went back to ASMAD train status for arrival times from 1/2/16 - present, as per the info provided train # 97 was on time or early arrival 60 out of 251 times. Which to me is not very good, that's less than 25% of the time. As of train #98 that train was either early or on time 65 out or 255 times, again that's about 25% of the time. So I'm just trying to understand why these trains are late that much. Thanks again.

It depends on how you define on time. When I travel long distance I consider on time to be rather nebulous, up to an hour late or so is perfectly fine by me and I don't start getting antsy until about two hours late. In my experience having plans immediately after arrival from any form of transportation is asking for trouble, so when I travel I just plan on arriving sometime in the same time of day as when I'm scheduled to.

I did an ASMAD search and found that 97 was 2+ hours late 34 times this year into Miami, or 13% of the time, which seems consistent with my long distance train travel in general. I suppose depending on your point of view that may be acceptable or not, but those odds wouldn't give me second thoughts if I were planning on going to Florida.

 

[railiner]

First thank you to everyone that responded to my topic. I went back to ASMAD train status for arrival times from 1/2/16 - present, as per the info provided train # 97 was on time or early arrival 60 out of 251 times. Which to me is not very good, that's less than 25% of the time. As of train #98 that train was either early or on time 65 out or 255 times, again that's about 25% of the time. So I'm just trying to understand why these trains are late that much. Thanks again.

It depends on how you define on time. When I travel long distance I consider on time to be rather nebulous, up to an hour late or so is perfectly fine by me and I don't start getting antsy until about two hours late. In my experience having plans immediately after arrival from any form of transportation is asking for trouble, so when I travel I just plan on arriving sometime in the same time of day as when I'm scheduled to.

I did an ASMAD search and found that 97 was 2+ hours late 34 times this year into Miami, or 13% of the time, which seems consistent with my long distance train travel in general. I suppose depending on your point of view that may be acceptable or not, but those odds wouldn't give me second thoughts if I were planning on going to Florida.

Good points, but if you are traveling to Florida to connect to an ocean cruise, you had better allow an overnite stay, just in case....even half a day is taking a big chance...

 

[Sauve850]

I travel every summer from somewhere on west coast to Chicago. From there I head east to DC and down to Florida. I always allow for an overnight in Chicago. I think its a sad state of affairs that we have to plan things that way.

 

[StriderGDM]

First thank you to everyone that responded to my topic. I went back to ASMAD train status for arrival times from 1/2/16 - present, as per the info provided train # 97 was on time or early arrival 60 out of 251 times. Which to me is not very good, that's less than 25% of the time. As of train #98 that train was either early or on time 65 out or 255 times, again that's about 25% of the time. So I'm just trying to understand why these trains are late that much. Thanks again.

It depends on how you define on time. When I travel long distance I consider on time to be rather nebulous, up to an hour late or so is perfectly fine by me and I don't start getting antsy until about two hours late. In my experience having plans immediately after arrival from any form of transportation is asking for trouble, so when I travel I just plan on arriving sometime in the same time of day as when I'm scheduled to.

I did an ASMAD search and found that 97 was 2+ hours late 34 times this year into Miami, or 13% of the time, which seems consistent with my long distance train travel in general. I suppose depending on your point of view that may be acceptable or not, but those odds wouldn't give me second thoughts if I were planning on going to Florida.

Good points, but if you are traveling to Florida to connect to an ocean cruise, you had better allow an overnite stay, just in case....even half a day is taking a big chance...

I have a friend who has done exactly that. Taken the train down a day earlier to catch a cruise.