Metra in April completed its 14th straight month of meeting or exceeding its on-time performance goal, posting an on-time performance rate of 97.4 percent for the month. The April rate exceeded the five-year average for the month of April of 96.6 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 will continue to strive every day to improve our performance while keeping safety as our number one focus,” said Metra Executive Director/CEO Don Orseno. “Reliability is a key reason why our customers continue to ride Metra and we can always do more to enhance service.”
In April, 451 of 17,020 trains were tardy by six minutes or more. The most common cause for delays was signal or switch failure. Track obstructions, human error, sick, injured or unruly passengers, and right-of-way accidents were other major causes of Metra train delays in April.
Cause |
Primary |
Secondary |
Total |
Rank |
Signal, Switch Failure |
74 |
24 |
98 |
1 |
Obstruction/Debris |
29 |
25 |
54 |
2 |
Human Error |
26 |
27 |
53 |
3 |
Sick/Injured/Unruly Passengers |
26 |
24 |
50 |
4 |
Right-of-Way Accidents |
7 |
41 |
48 |
5 |
Freight |
36 |
8 |
44 |
6 |
Track Construction |
36 |
8 |
44 |
6 |
Mechanical |
20 |
23 |
43 |
8 |
Train Loading |
8 |
0 |
8 |
9 |
Passenger Train Int. |
4 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
Lift Deployment |
2 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
Catenary Failure |
0 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
Weather |
1 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
Total |
269 |
182 |
451 |
|