Amtrak Long-Distance Trains
Performance for September 2026
Forty-two percent of Amtrak's named long-distance trains arrived at their scheduled final destination on time or earlier in September 2026... The remaining trains, on average, arrived one hour and 38 minutes late.
_ _ _ _
This Month's Performance of Individual Trains . . . .
Auto Train .
California Zephyr .
Cardinal .
Carolinian .
City of New Orleans .
Coast Starlight .
Crescent .
Empire Builder .
Floridian
Lake Shore Limited .
Maple Leaf .
Palmetto .
Silver Meteor .
Southwest Chief .
Sunset Limited .
Texas Eagle .
Vermonter .
COMPOSITE - (Long-DistanceTrains, August 2026)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Ten-year comparison for September . . .
10-year comparison
Pct on-time arrival
Overall avg arrival
Ave arrival if late
September 2017 34 %
49 mins late
1 hour, 14 mins late
September 2018 29 %
1 hour, 6 mins late
1 hour, 33 mins late
September 2019 36 %
49 mins late
1 hour, 16 mins late
September 2020 52 %
32 mins late
1 hour, 6 mins late
September 2021 43 %
38 mins late
1 hour, 6 mins late
September 2022 38 %
52 mins late
1 hour, 24 mins late
September 2023 44 %
42 mins late
1 hour, 13 mins late
September 2024 53 %
35 mins late
1 hour, 15 mins late
September 2025 49 %
36 mins late
1 hour, 11 mins late
September 2026 42 %
52 mins late
1 hour, 38 mins late
10-year September avg 42 %
45 mins late
1 hour, 18 mins late
ABOUT THESE REPORTS:
The Bull Sheet calculates arrival performance at final destination of Amtrak's named long-distance trains. The data are based upon the reported arrival times of each of the affected trains, and there is no grace allowance for minimal lateness. If a train arrives at its final terminal behind schedule, even by a minute, it is considered 'late.' The Bull Sheet considers that long-distance Amtrak trains have sufficient padding in their schedule to offset typical en route delays, and it is not necessary to adopt a grace allowance on top of that padding to bolster on-time reporting. Accordingly, these reports offer a more realistic analysis than what is typically reported by Amtrak. Moreover, no consideration is given to the impact of late departures from originating points impacting subsequent late arrivals at destination, or for any time advanced during that run. Again, calculations refer solely to arrival at final terminal.
Data apply only to final destination, not to intermediate stops. Moreover, it does not identify causes for delay, or statistically apply responsibility to any of the host carriers involved en route.
Trains that are truncated, annulled, originated or terminated en route, or reported with incomplete or ambiguous data are excluded from the survey.
.
.