Current Sunset Limited Reliability

[Anonymous]

For FY13 the Sunset Limited had on-time percentage of 57.4% vs. 54.6% for the long distance trains as a whole. For March FY14 the on-time percentage was 73.1%, whilst it was 63.6% for the twelve months ended March 31, 2014.  Into LAX the Sunset Limited had an on-time percentage of 61.5% in March 2014 compared to 52.6% for the twelve months.  Into New Orleans the train does much better. The on-time percentage was 84.6% for March 2014 and 74.4% for the twelve months.

I took the Texas Eagle/Sunset Limited to LAX in January.  It was on-time into LA.  I had sleeping accommodations, and I should have been allowed to stay in my space until 6:30 a.m.  But the car attendant apparently thought that I had had enough shut-eye.  She hustled me off the car by 6:00 a.m.  I sent a letter to Amtrak pointing out the discrepancy between the advertised and the car attendant's actions.  Unfortunately, I have not gotten a reply.

The new track in New Mexico is glassy smooth.  

[desertdog]

The 74% on-time performance is much better than I would have expected. Although it's not exactly apples to oranges, airline on-time performance is about four points better between January and October, the last month for which information is available.

John Timm

[ecoli]

Amtrak also provides, per-train, an on-time percentage for the most recent month and the most recent 12 months. Here's the current link for the Sunset Limited:

http://www.amtrak.com/sunset-limited-train&mode=perf&overrideDefaultTemplate=OTPPageHorizontalRouteOverview

[Deggesty]

It is possible to check, usually, on how various Amtrak train are running; when you go to the website, www.amtrak.com, you are able to check on "Status," which does go back a few days, as well as show current status of Amtrak trains.

[narig01]

Not sure how much of an effect it has had. The last couple of weeks the southbound Texas Eagle has had a couple of major delays. One s/b was 12 hours late into San Antonio and another (the 5th I think) was turned in Fort Worth.

Rgds IGN

[ecoli]

rjemery

At one point, the w/b Sunset Limited often terminated in (Tucson or Phoenix/Maricopa?) Arizona and thru passengers had to be bussed to Los Angeles.  LA passengers awaiting the e/b train also had to be bussed to Arizona to board the turned around train.

Has that situation been resolved?

Also, how affected is the Sunset Limited by the double tracking project of the UPSP along its route?  When is that construction expected to be completed?

For what it's worth, I'm a Tucson resident who took the Sunset Limited several times in 2013, and escorted an entraining/detraining passenger on two more occasions. In each case, the train was within 10 minutes of being on time at Tucson, and several times it was early. A couple of times it was extremely early arriving at LAX, which is actually inconvenient (imagine yourself as a coach passenger hoping to get a little sleep and arrive around 5:30am, but finding yourself being hustled off the train at 4:25am instead--fortunately sleeping car passengers are allowed to stay aboard for some time after the train arrives.)

Obviously it's still late sometimes, but ever since the schedule change which eliminated the around-midnight arrivals in Tucson, timekeeping has been pretty good.

[rjemery]

At one point, the w/b Sunset Limited often terminated in (Tucson or Phoenix/Maricopa?) Arizona and thru passengers had to be bussed to Los Angeles.  LA passengers awaiting the e/b train also had to be bussed to Arizona to board the turned around train.

Has that situation been resolved?

Also, how affected is the Sunset Limited by the double tracking project of the UPSP along its route?  When is that construction expected to be completed?