LIRR defends on-time performance stats
Kimon Stathakos has filed a class action lawsuit against the Long Island Rail Road. Credit: John Paraskevas
A letter published on March 1 ["Skepticism about LIRR"] contained a number of inaccuracies about the Long Island Rail Road's on-time performance.
We know our customers' No. 1 concern is arriving on time. Our entire workforce is dedicated every day to improving our performance in this critical area. Detailed records are kept on each a.m. and p.m. peak period and are closely scrutinized to find ways to improve.
The Long Island Rail Road has one of the most transparent reporting systems in the country. We recently began posting detailed information on each past late train at http://wx3.lirr.org/lirr/LateTrains, and our public information office issues customer e-mail alerts about every train that is delayed by 10 minutes or more. We also publish, under "board materials" on our website, reports on average minutes late, performance by branch, the time and categories of delays, and those events that have caused 10 or more delays.
Commuter rail services throughout North America, including the MBTA in Boston, SEPTA in Philadelphia, and METRA in Chicago, use a 5-minute and 59-second measurement to calculate whether a train is deemed on time, as does our sister railroad, Metro-North. This benchmark has been in place since 1979, and has provided the LIRR the ability to measure our performance against other railroads as well as historically.
Our on-time performance of 92.61 percent for 2010 is below our goal, and we are very focused on improving our performance this year.
Helena E. Williams
Editor's note: The writer is president of the LIRR.
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