Keeping New York Moving: Governor Hochul Celebrates Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road’s On-Time Performance Milestones

Metro-North Railroad Achieved 21st 100 Percent On-Time Performance Day on March 9

99 Percent of Trains on All Three Lines East of Hudson River Arrived On-Time From February 4 Through March 2

Long Island Rail Road’s On-Time Performance of 96.4 Percent Marked Highest Ever Recorded for the Month of February

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad trains are achieving significant milestones so far in 2025, with high on-time performance records and strong ridership gains, building on record service reliability documented in 2024. The first two months of 2025 have seen exceptional service for Metro-North Railroad with an upward trajectory in both ridership and on-time performance, including a 100 percent on-time performance day across all three train lines on Sunday, March 9 — the 21st time the railroad has reported 100 percent on-time performance since 2023. Long Island Rail Road customers have seen record levels of on-time performance, with a 2025 year-to-date on-time performance of almost 97 percent — three percent above the established monthly goal and almost two percent over 2024’s record of 95.65 percent outside of COVID years.

“We are delivering a faster and consistently reliable mode of public transportation to riders with each milestone the commuter railroads achieve,” Governor Hochul said. “New Yorkers know that they can depend on the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road trains every single day — whether it’s for their daily commute to work, or for a trip to a different part of New York State.”

On-Time Performance Data
Metro-North Railroad

On-time performance (OTP) for the week of February 24 through March 2 was 99 percent — marking an improvement across all three lines and meaning that almost every single train was on time. This was the ninth time since 2023 that all three of the Metro-North Railroad (Metro-North) lines operated at 99 percent or better OTP in the same week.

• Hudson Line 99.4 percent
• Harlem Line 99.2 percent
• New Haven Line 99 percent

These incredible numbers from the first two months of 2025 follow a remarkable year for the railroad in 2024 — a year that saw Metro-North’s OTP hit an all-time high, exceeding 98 percent. The Metro-North also saw an average daily ridership of 176,414 passengers the week of February 24 through March 2 — an increase of 13.8 percent from the previous week.

Long Island Rail Road

The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) set an all-time record in February of 96.4 percent. The top three branches year-to-date are:

• Port Washington 98.7 percent
• West Hempstead 97.6 percent
• Babylon 97.0 percent

In January, 6.1 million people rode the LIRR — an increase of 617,096 customers, 11.2 percent, compared to January 2024 with commutation ridership up 8.4 percent and non-commutation ridership up 13.3 percent compared to last year. The LIRR is now carrying 85 percent of 2019 ridership with average Monday to Friday weekday ridership at 247,708. More than 1.4 million people rode the LIRR the week of February 24 through March 2.

Ridership Achievements on the Commuter Rails

There was a strong rebound across several ridership categories. Commutation ridership was up 17.1 percent, including a 17.1 percent increase for monthly ticket ridership and a 17.8 percent increase for weekly ticket ridership. Single trip ticket ridership was up 8.7 percent overall, including a 24 percent increase in peak single ticket ridership. Although off-peak single ticket ridership was down 3.4 percent, CityTicket — tickets good for one-way travel that begins and ends within New York City — ridership increased 15.8 percent.