(The following story by Ted Jackovics appeared on The Tampa Tribune website on January 22, 2009.)
TAMPA, Fla. — Amtrak’s Silver Star, which operates a daily northbound and southbound train through Tampa on its New York-Miami route, improved its on-time performance in December compared with the 12-month period, Amtrak records show.
The northbound Silver Star was on time for 87.1 percent of its schedules in December, compared with 51.7 percent over the 12-month period.
The southbound Silver Star was on-time 67.7 percent of its schedules in December, compared with 51.6 percent over the12-month period.
Problems with track and signals accounted for 27.8 percent of the northbound delays. Interference involving CSX Corp. Norfolk Southern and Amtrak trains accounted for 29.8 percent of the southbound delays.
The Silver Star averaged nine minutes of delays on northbound runs through Tampa among 20 recent trains in December and January and 13 minutes of delays for 22 recent southbound trains, data monitored by amtrakdelays.com showed. That Website is not affiliated with Amtrak.
Late trains historically have plagued Amtrak’s ridership, which relies on tracks owned by freight railroads for its routes beyond the Northeast Corridor. That issue is expected to continue to gain attention as Amtrak ridership has picked up in the past year.