Planning and operation of this service will require coordination of many agencies and interests.
If HB 2346, legislation originally drafted by ARPA, creating a statewide Arizona Rail Authority (ARA), is passed, that agency could take over some of the responsibilities of planning and implementing this service, assuming that the ARA organization and personnel (and funding) could be put in place quickly enough. In any event, the legislation requires the ARA to develop a state rail plan, and information gained during this demonstration will be useful for that purpose.
Freight trains operating to and from the west will be largely unaffected, as they use a separate freight lead from the west end of Phoenix Yard, which joins the passenger main west of Phoenix Union Station.
Freight trains operating to and from the east will present some conflicts, however, but these are not insurmountable. Based on the proposed schedule (see below), a westbound passenger train will pass the east lead of Phoenix Yard approximately 18 minutes past each hour, and will not return to this point on its eastbound trip until approximately 37 minutes after the hour. This is enough of a gap for eastbound through freights to use if they are ready to go immediately upon passage of the westbound passenger.
Coordination will be necessary with the existing Amtrak service (Sunset Limited). If that train is still operating on a tri-weekly schedule at that time, there will be a conflict on Monday and Wednesday mornings (and Saturday morning when Saturday service is operating.)
In addition, there may be other passenger trains operating at the time of the Super Bowl. Traditionally, railroads serving a city hosting an event like the Super Bowl operate special business trains for their executives and invited guests.
It can be expected that Southern Pacific, and possibly Santa Fe, will operate some type of business train to Phoenix for the Super Bowl, possibly directly to the stadium on game day due to the proximity of the Creamery Branch. There is also a possibility that the Grand Canyon Railway might operate some type of train to Phoenix during that time period. The advanced scheduling coordination required for these trains will not be difficult.
---Westbound--- | ---Eastbound---
..Leave...Arrive..|..Leave....Arrive..
..Mesa....Phoenix.|.Phoenix...Mesa....
..6:00AM...6:25AM.|..6:30AM...6:55AM
..------...------.|..7:25AM..(7:50AM)..Sunset Limited
..7:00AM...7:25AM.|..7:30AM...7:55AM
..8:00AM...8:25AM.|..8:30AM...8:55AM
..9:00AM...9:25AM.|..9:30AM...9:55AM
.10:00AM..10:25AM |.10:30AM..10:55AM
.11:00AM..11:25AM |.11:30AM..11:55AM
.12:00N...12:25PM |.12:30PM..12:55PM
..1:00PM...1:25PM |..1:30PM...1:55PM
..2:00PM...2:25PM |..2:30PM...2:55PM
..3:00PM...3:25PM |..3:30PM...3:55PM
..4:00PM...4:25PM |..4:30PM...4:55PM
..5:00PM...5:25PM |..5:30PM...5:55PM
..6:00PM...6:25PM |..6:30PM...6:55PM..End of Service on Dec. 24 and Feb. 4
..7:00PM...7:25PM |..7:30PM...7:55PM
..8:00PM...8:25PM |..8:30PM...8:55PM
.(9:05PM).10:30PM |....................Sunset Limited
November 12 All equipment arrives by this date
November 18 Service
Begins, free introductory service
November 18 Saturday service provided
November 19 Sunday service provided, free intro. service
November 20 Free
introductory service provided
November 23 Thanksgiving Day (no service)
November 25 Saturday service provided
November 26 Sunday service
provided
December 16 Saturday service provided
December 23 Saturday
service provided
December 24 Sunday service provided
December 25
Christmas Day (no service)
December 31 Sunday service (Parade/Block
party)
January 1 New Years Day and Fiesta Bowl
January 15 M. L. King
Holiday (service provided)
January 27 Saturday service provided
January
28 Super Bowl Sunday
February 4 Sunday service provided (until 7:00PM)
It is proposed that the possibility of renting simple ticketing machines from the manufacturers be pursued. These would be attached to temporary concrete foundations. The machines would be emptied nightly. As an alternative to renting, the machines could be purchased and saved for later use on the permanent system or moved to existing transit centers around the Valley and used to sell bus tickets.
Tickets could also be sold through the existing transit ticket outlets, and period tickets (weekly, monthly, or for the entire demonstration period) might be sold through private ticket outlets that handle event and theater tickets, for example.
To the