Wolverine reliability

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Can anyone here speak to the on-time reliability of the Wolverine service, especially the weekend evening departures from Chicsgo and Detroit?

Thanks,
 
Can anyone here speak to the on-time reliability of the Wolverine service, especially the weekend evening departures from Chicsgo and Detroit?

Thanks,
Not reliable.

Considerable construction on the Amtrak/Michigan owned segments

(Porter/Michigan City, IN-Dearborn), and a horrible mess on the NS

segment Union Station-Porter/Michigan City.

From the Monthly Performance Report for August, on page E-8, the

End Point On Time Performance for the month was 22.6%, same as

summer of 2013 (construction season). The year to date looks only

slightly better, at 32.9%.

The All Stations OTP (not Chicago and Detroit, but stops like Ann Arbor,

Kalamazoo, and Dearborn) was not good either, with 50% for the month

and the year.

Weekend evening trains might do better, presuming construction is

weekdays during daylight -- but I don't know that.
 
Although the previous stats are undoubtedly correct the michigan trains lately are usually somewhere between on- time and an hour and half late in either direction.It would be pretty rare to have more of a delay than that. Hopefully that will improve over the fall to be closer to exactly on time but i would be comfortable using these trains now as for me anyway.
 
Although the previous stats are undoubtedly correct the michigan trains lately are usually somewhere between on- time and an hour and half late in either direction.It would be pretty rare to have more of a delay than that. Hopefully that will improve over the fall to be closer to exactly on time but i would be comfortable using these trains now as for me anyway.
This is my experience. We live next to the tracks (in Kalamazoo), and 99% of the time I hear it go by late, it's about 30-90 minutes late. Very, very rarely do I hear it later than that, and if it is, it's due to some egregious occurrence, like the polar vortex, a passenger strike, a dead loco, etc.
 
Geez an hour late into Detroirmt on the evening train would mean getting there after 1 am and into the hotel to sleep only a little before 2 am! I guess we'll probably rent a car instead.
 
Can anyone here speak to the on-time reliability of the Wolverine service, especially the weekend evening departures from Chicsgo and Detroit?

Thanks,
A little birdie told me this topic would be a good question for my toy, the Amtak Status Maps Archive Database. It lets you query all kinds of fun stuff to discover historical Amtrak performance by train #, station, etc.

So here are some stats...

Train 354

Over the past 90 days, it departed Chicago (CHI) at 6:00 PM within 30 minutes of on time 85 out of 90 times (94%).

By the time it got to Detroit (DET), it arrived or departed within 30 minutes of on time just 8 times of 78 times (10%).

Also, it departed DET at least 1 hour late 45 times (58%), and at least 2 hours late 12 times (15%).

It arrived at its destination Pontiac (PNT) within 1 hour of on time 27 out of 78 times (35%). It was 2+ hours late 10 out of 78 times (13%).

The worst delay arriving at the final destination PNT was 3 hours and 4 minutes late.

Train 355

Same 90 days, it departed PNT at 5:40 PM within 30 minutes of on time 86 out of 90 times (96%).

At Detroit it departed within 30 minutes of being on time 86 out of 90 times (96%).

It arrived at its destination CHI within 1 hour of on time 65 out of 90 times (72%). It was 2+ hours late 5 out of 90 times (6%).

The worst delay arriving at CHI was 4 hours 9 minutes late.

Looking for other historical data

The URL below will let you easily edit the train number, station, and what kind of delays you want to see (30 minutes, 60 minutes, etc) for historical Amtrak performance. It is preset for train 354 departing Chicago with delays less than 30 minutes for the past 90 days. Just play around with the values.

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=354&station=chi&date_start=7%2F23%2F2014&date_end=10%2F21%2F2014&sort=schDp&sort_dir=DESC&limit=&co=lteq&limit_mins=30

Summary

Eastbound Train 355 to Chicago has better reliability than westbound train 354 from Chicago.

CJ
 
I think the word "reliability" can have two meanings, depending upon the context:

  • runs on time or reasonably on time
  • runs consistently, whether it be on time or not
For some folks, I imagine a wide range of variability in time keeping makes the train unreliable, more so than simply running consistently late.

jb
 
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