by electricron
villager wrote: ↑Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:08 pm We in NC wish we could get this type of performance between Raleigh and DC. Then intercity train travel around here would REALLY take off.The reason the Piedmont trains run mostly on time is because the trains run over tracks owned by the NCRR which in turn is owned by the State of North Carolina. The Carolinian train only runs on NCRR tracks west of Raleigh, north of Raleigh it runs on CSX owned tracks to DC and Amtrak owned tracks to NYC.
I'm not as diligent with the stats for the Carolinian, because it takes so much more work (so many more stations). However, the amount of data I do have points to a scheduled run of 12:59 from NYP to CLT, and an average run of 13:50, a median of 13:37, and a 90th percentile of 14:59, two hours late. Ugh.
There's no magic, of course. Well-maintained and attended to rights of way with capital programs aimed at reducing bottlenecks produce mostly on-time and relatively speedy services. Places where this doesn't exist leads to crummy train service.
Ownership is the key to dispatching and the key for funding improvements or maintenance of the tracks.
Ownership is the magic!