Regional Rail On-Time Performance

On-Time Performance (OTP) is the program used by Regional Rail to measure service reliability.  OTP identifies the number of trains, for all rail lines, that arrive at their scheduled destination at the scheduled time.  To understand how SEPTA calculates service reliability there are two important facts to keep in mind:

• The Authority follows the industry standard that a train may arrive up to 5 minutes and 59 seconds after its scheduled time and still be considered on-time.
• Suburban Station is the "arrival" for Center City used to determine a train's performance.

Weather, maintenance work, and unanticipated activities by third parties make it nearly impossible to achieve 100% service reliability, particularly since delays caused by these incidents are included in the Authority's monthly reporting figures.  However, since service dependability is a key operational objective, SEPTA has established an annual goal of 91% for Regional Rail On-Time Performance.