Our April 19 Open House was our best attended meeting to date,
with seventy-three members and guests present.
After reports from the chair of each committee, ARPA President Michael Garey introduced Julie Brown of the Union Pacific Railroad. She was recently named Director — Passenger Service.
Ms. Brown gave a short introduction before presenting a Union Pacific videotape, "UNION PACIFIC, America's Commuter Rail Service" . The videotape highlighted the successes U.P. has had with regional rail projects, and explained how the railroad is actively pursuing additional projects in metropolitan areas across the country. In the short time since its release, several additional cities have expressed their interest in commuter services on existing track.
Ms. Brown express the desire that Phoenix be among these: "Given scheduling and improvements, there are very good to excellent possibilities" to intermix freight service and commuter rail in Phoenix. She also addressed the Phoenix West Line: "as a through line… maybe directional" and the possibility for use of the Tucson-Phoenix line: "To the degree we can schedule and fund a way to do it we will look at it." The so-called Sunset Corridor has a high volume of freight traffic, and the Union Pacific "wants to maximize use of its assets."
After Ms. Brown's presentation, Lloyd Clark, a long time ARPA member, donated a spike from the tracks used by the Hattie B during the 1980 flood crisis. This memento was auctioned, with the proceeds forwarded to ARPA. Mr. and Mrs. Gary Thorne made the winning bid.
