(The following story by Zachary R. Dowdy appeared on the Newsday website on May 7.)
NEW YORK — Morning LIRR customers got to their destinations on time more often last month than in any other month for the past 30 years, railroad officials said yesterday, crediting employees for achieving record on-time performance in April.
The average for morning peak on-time performance in April was 98.35 percent, which bested the previous high of 97.41 percent set in May 2005 and repeated in July 2005.
Officials have been keeping statistics on on-time performance since 1979. The overall April on-time performance average of 95.97 percent was also the second best outcome since 1979.
“This latest on-time performance record proves once again that Long Island Rail Road employees are committed to providing the best customer service in the country,” said LIRR President Helena Williams. “I congratulate our employees for their effort.”
LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto said a train is considered on time if it arrives in a station within five minutes and 59 seconds of the scheduled arrival time.
LIRR officials said that the system had its best overall year for on-time performance last year, which saw a 94.07 percent average, surpassing the previous record, set in 2002, of 94.04 percent.
Officials said that record was accomplished as the system operated 244,565 trains, as much as 5 percent more than in 2002, during which it ran 233,301 trains.
The LIRR also reported 95.54 percent on-time performance for the first four months of this year.