TUCSON, AZ — If you need to get from Phoenix to Tucson, you don’t have many options beyond car, bus or plane. But passenger trains could be making a comeback on that route.
It has been more than 25 years since passenger train service stopped between Phoenix and Tucson. The closest AMTRAK trains come to Phoenix is the city of Maricopa about 35 miles south of Arizona’s capital.
But there’s a chance passenger trains could go from Phoenix to Tucson again.
“This is a foot in the door, but it's a major foot in the door.”
Todd Liebman is President of All Aboard Arizona, an organization dedicated to reviving passenger rail service.
The Federal government just gave Arizona a half million dollars to study getting passenger trains back on the rails between Tucson and Phoenix. That goes along with 3.5 million in state money.
Liebman says offering another option to go between Tucson and Phoenix can boost the economy of both cities and the smaller towns in between.
“Actually, there is going to be several stops. There's going to be a stop in Tempe. There’s going to be a stop at Sky Harbor. There will be a stop downtown, and then the terminus is going to be in Buckeye.”
Liebman says it’s not clear how soon passenger trains could run from Tucson to Phoenix again but it could happen fairly fast because it would not require a lot of new construction or designing and building new trains.