A new report says 2015 saw the Long Island Rail Road's worst on-time performance record in 15 years.

The MTA report says 9 percent of LIRR trains were late in 2015, marking its worst performance since the year 2000.

The report says train cancellations rose by 40 percent last year, and trains were delayed by at least 15 minutes a total of 18 percent of the time.

The LIRR says many of the service disruptions were out of its control. It blames problems with the East River Tunnel, the weather, and an incident in which a plane landed on the tracks in August.

"You have to remember that number every year is driven by often the worst days of the year," said LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena. "You never know when a truck is going to get stuck on the track, you never know when someone is going to decide to walk along the right-of-way and get hurt."

The railroad says it is not satisfied with the trends and is working to turn things around. It says several projects are already underway to improve on-time performance, including East Side Access into Manhattan, repairing bridges and adding third tracks onto the busiest lines.

The LIRR carried a record 87.4 million riders last year.