WASHINGTON – Amtrak’s daily Empire Builder, which stops in Winona, was on time only 46% of the time in Fiscal 2019. The rail passenger service blamed freight railroads, on whose track it runs, for green-lighting slow freight trains ahead of Amtrak trains. The Empire Builder runs on Canadian Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks. Among Amtrak’s 15 long-distance trains, the Empire Builder was mid-performer for on-time arrivals.
> Auto Train (Washington-Orlando) 70.9%
> Palmetto (New Yoke-Charleston) 57.9%
> Cardinal (Chicago-New York) 53.5%
> Coast Starlight (Los Angeles-Seattle) 53.0%
> California Zephyr (Chicago-San Francisco) 48.8%
> Southwest Chief (Chicago-Los Angeles) 47.0%
> Empire Builder Chicago-Seattle/Portland: 46.1%
> City of New Orleans (Chicago-New Orleans) 45.8%
> Silver Meteor (Washington-Miami) 43.6%
> Capitol Limited (Washington-Chicago) 40.1%
> Lake Shore Limited (Chicago-New York/Boston) 40.0%
> Texas Eagle (Chicago-San Antonio) 39.7%
> Silver Star (New York-Miami) 37.6%
> Crescent (New York-New Orleans) 31.3%
> Sunset Limited (New Orleans-Los Angeles) 30.3%
Amtrak averaged all on-time arrivals, not individual stations. The Amtrak definition of “on time” is within 15 minutes of schedule.