Metra Meets On-Time Goal for 11th Consecutive Month

Metra posted an on-time performance rate of 95.8 percent for the month of January, exceeding its goal for the 11th consecutive month. The January rate of 95.8 percent exceeded the five-year average for the month of January of 93.6 percent.

Metra’s goal is to operate at least 95 percent of its trains on time. Like the rest of the U.S. commuter railroad industry, Metra considers a train to have operated on time if it reaches its final destination within five minutes and 59 seconds of its scheduled arrival.

“We’re pleased with our performance over the past 11 months, but we know we can always do better and we try hard to do that each day,” said Metra executive director and CEO Don Orseno. “Our goal in analyzing the cause of delays is to identify delays that could have been prevented so that we can continue to improve our performance.”

In January, 706 of 16,646 trains were tardy by six minutes or more. The most common cause for delays was switch failure and weather. Mechanical problems, freight interference and right-of-way accidents were other major causes of Metra train delays in January.