[Sekkle]

This is an opinion piece from the Republic (former AZ Gov. Bruce Babbit). It's good to see that there seems to be a pretty strong push to get commuter rail going...

Let's get ball rolling on rail
Commuter line could link Valley, Tucson; tracks already in place
Bruce Babbitt
My Turn
Jan. 26, 2007 12:00 AM

Gov. Janet Napolitano is calling for more attention to mass transit - and none too soon.

Our state, now the fastest growing in the country, will increase to 14 million from 6 million residents by 2040. And more than 90 percent of these new residents will be living and working in the "Sun Corridor" that extends from Phoenix through Pinal County to Tucson.

We must plan now for commuter rail service across this Sun Corridor from Phoenix through Mesa and the East Valley and down to Tucson. The urgent task is to secure the necessary right of way. Fortunately, the tracks are already in place; all we need is the right to use them for passenger commuter service.

The rail corridor is the Union Pacific track running from Glendale down Grand Avenue, across Phoenix parallel to Washington Street, north of Sky Harbor, across the Salt River into Tempe, on through Mesa and Chandler down to Picacho and into Tucson.

The time is at hand for the governor and Legislature to secure the necessary rights for passenger service along this line.

Here is the game plan: Recall that Union Pacific is asking the state for help to build a new rail switchyard on its main line near Picacho Peak, just north of Tucson. What the railroad needs from the state for that switchyard is some 600 acres of trust land near Picacho.

The state Land Department has already said that it is preparing to sell that land to Union Pacific.

Not so fast. There is the making of a better deal here.

The governor and the State Land Department should say to Union Pacific that they will sell it the land with a condition that it agree to provide the state "trackage rights" for future passenger-rail service on the existing line between Phoenix and Tucson. Perhaps we don't need to put commuter service up immediately, but the time is coming, and it's time to make a deal.

Is it reasonable to ask the railroad for trackage rights for commuter service?

Yes. It's being done all over the country, including in our neighboring states of California and New Mexico.

The most recent example of which I am aware is the new commuter rail service, the "Rail Runner" now operating on the old Santa Fe line between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, thanks to the determined efforts of Gov. Richardson.

Some readers may recall that we have a precedent right here in Arizona. Back in 1980, weeks of winter rain caused heavy flooding, washing out all the highway bridges over the Salt River, effectively cutting Phoenix in two. The only bridge left standing was the rail trestle across the river into Tempe.

Working with the Department of Transportation, as governor, I placed a call to the president of Southern Pacific and asked for help, making it clear that we could not take "no" for an answer.

Railroads don't particularly like to have passenger trains running on their freight lines, but they agreed to help and made it work. Within a couple of days, we had a commuter train, the "Hattie B," up and running between Phoenix and Mesa across the Tempe rail bridge.

Now, a quarter century later, it's time to revive that experience. But this time around, the flood isn't flowing down the Salt River; it's coming in the form of another 7 million residents. It's time to get started before they arrive.



The writer is a former governor of Arizona and a former secretary of the Department of Interior.

It's not quite as simple as just "securing the necessary right of way" of course... We would need stations, rolling stock and service planning, just to name a few things, but in general it wouldn't be too complicated to implement.