Measuring the Benefits of Intercity Passenger Rail: A Study

the average scores for its peer group, other state-supported and other short-distance corridors. In
FFY 2009, the Heartland Flyer average overall CSI score and percent very satisfied ranked
second among the 26 routes in this category.
On-Time Performance
One measure of importance to the patronage of current intercity passenger rail service
and the development of new markets for passenger rail is the on-time performance of intercity
passenger rail routes. Arguably, travel time reliability is likely a major determinant in travelers’
decision to use passenger rail for a trip. Therefore, improving travel time reliability (i.e.,
consistent on-time performance) would likely increase ridership on a route. Amtrak defines
trains as “late” with performance thresholds according to the total endpoint-to-endpoint distance
of a route, as follows:
• Routes up to 250 miles: Arrival at endpoint more than 10 minutes behind schedule;
• Routes between 251 and 350 miles: more than 15 minutes behind schedule;
• Routes between 351 and 450 miles: more than 20 minutes behind schedule;
• Routes between 451 and 550 miles: more than 25 minutes behind schedule; and
• Routes above 551 miles: more than 30 minutes behind schedule.
Amtrak reports that for FFY 2009, the on-time performance of the 206-mile Heartland Flyer was
83.3 percent, which means that five out of every six Heartland Flyer trains arrived at the
endpoint within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. Figure 3-9 shows the monthly percent on-
time for the Heartland Flyer between January 2004 and the end of FFY 2009.
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