The success of any passenger rail service, like those described above, depends on a proper infrastructure. Upgraded tracks, signals, and facilities will speed travel and offer greater comfort and safety to Arizonans, both those who ride the trains and those who live near rail lines or traverse grade crossings. Improvements are particularly acute for service into and within the metropolitan Phoenix area.
Let us examine some of the elements of a successful rail passenger system:
Figure 10. Principal Union Pacific Railroad Lines in Southern Arizona
Foremost among the needs in southern Arizona is the rehabilitation of the Union Pacific railroad line west of Phoenix. An 86-mile segment of this line connecting Yuma to Phoenix, between approximately Palo Verde and Wellton, is not serviceable for passenger trains; thus, since 1996, Amtrak trains have bypassed Phoenix. Funding and reconstruction of this section of the Phoenix line would allow immediate restoration of Amtrak intercity rail passenger service to Phoenix, according to Amtrak officials. The Arizona Department of Transportation has recently completed a study of the required upgrades.
Implementation of this essential infrastructure upgrade would be facilitated by State acquisition from the Union Pacific Railroad of the entire branch from Wellton through Phoenix and on southeast to Picacho where the Phoenix line reconnects to the UP mainline. Ownership of the Phoenix line by the State or a State-sponsored authority would provide a modern, safer, higher speed platform not only for intercity rail passenger trains, but for a Phoenix/Tucson high speed passenger train and commuter lines in the Phoenix area (see below).
Freight trains destined for the Phoenix area would benefit from improved rails and track bed as well. Income from leasing state-owned tracks back to the railroad for freight service would offset some ongoing track maintenance costs.
Such public acquisition of railroads has been accomplished in other states, notably the purchase of the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway by San Diego's Metropolitan Transit Development Board. Ownership by this public transit authority has allowed the implementation of the San Diego Trolley (urban light rail transit) to San Ysidro, across the border from Tijuana, Mexico, and to the suburban towns of Lemon Grove, La Mesa, and Santee, while freight service continues at night.