http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0425commuterrail.html
Interest in Arizona commuter rail grows Fast tracks cheaper than new freeways
Sean Holstege The Arizona Republic Apr. 25, 2006 12:00 AM
The notion of sending commuter trains down freight tracks is gathering steam instead of Arizona dust.
Most Western states have forged ahead with rail systems, but in Arizona, similar proposals were floated, dithered and died over the past 25 years. Arizona became the hole in the commuter-rail doughnut, as California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Colorado all planned or built suburban and intercity passenger-rail systems.
But state and regional transportation agencies are launching new studies this month to see if commuter rail can work in Arizona. One freight company says it has begun early talks about the future of its tracks northwest of Phoenix.
A statewide transit conference in Tempe this week aims to rekindle interest in heavy passenger rail, which is nothing like light rail.
Commuter rail runs longer trains longer distances between cities over existing tracks at speeds up to 79 mph. Light rail is an urban service, running short trains through streets at the posted speed limit, stopping frequently, like a bus.
"Light rail doesn't do a good job once you get out 30-40 miles outside the urban core," said Rick Simonetta, who runs Valley Metro Rail.
Locals envision service linking Phoenix with Tucson and fast-growing suburbs in Maricopa and Pinal counties. The list of supportive state and local politicians is growing.
Maybe it's the sinking realization that seasonal $3 gas could be here to stay. Or that two- and three-hour one-way commutes are no longer the exclusive domain of big coastal cities. Or that a mile of steel rail is cheaper than a mile of new freeway where Western cities grow like nearby wildfires.
Arizona has a rare advantage. Unlike many places, tracks here go through the heart of the very communities that are hungry for relief from freeway congestion.
Simonetta also heads the Arizona Transit Association. The group is pushing for commuter lines and invited rail officials from throughout the West to explain how they managed to pry precious rail capacity from a reluctant freight industry hauling record loads into the foreseeable future.
In other states, it took top political support from the statehouse and hundreds of millions of dollars to buy rights of way or track outright. It also took patience: five to 10 years.
California leads way
Early on the stage was California, where voters played a major role. They passed two large statewide bonds and Caltrans, Arizona Department of Transportation's equivalent, began assembling access to tracks.
"In the mid-1990s we could have bought the track for $300 million," Caltrans Rail Division Chief Bill Bronte said. "We're all shooting ourselves in the foot now."
Instead, Caltrans spent $75 million to improve 169 miles of Union Pacific track between Sacramento and the Bay area. California rented time slots on the track, bought trains and hired Amtrak to run the service.
By 2000, the Sacramento-Oakland-San Jose Capitol Corridor was among the fastest growing lines in the country, with 20 percent jumps in ridership every year. Congress, former Amtrak boss David Gunn and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta all described the Capitol Corridor as a model for salvaging a financially insolvent Amtrak.
In Southern California, local transit agencies built Los Angeles commuter service by buying as much track as they could. They used the same state bonds and a grab bag of local sales-tax measures.
The Southern California Regional Rail Authority negotiated with freight rail companies the cost of access, excess capacity and time slots. The first Metrolink train rolled in 1992, three years after the money started coming in.
Today, Metrolink carries 22,000 people on seven lines over 500 miles of track. The public agency owns two-thirds of it.
"It was probably the best money we ever spent," said David Solow, the rail authority's boss.
It put Metrolink in the enviable position of having a symbiotic relationship with the freight giants. Solow sells back time slots to an industry quickly running out of capacity to keep pace with the demands of Pacific Rim trade. If he had negotiated track sales today, he said, "they wouldn't have sold a single piece of property."
California's commuter rail lines became three of the nation's five fastest-growing services. They carry the equivalent of a lane of traffic and reached into some of the fastest-growing regions in the nation.
Utah lays down tracks
In Utah, Union Pacific Railroad runs its main-line track through Salt Lake City.
That didn't stop Kathryn Pett from negotiating 175 miles of track between Brigham City, Utah, and Payson, Utah, for $185 million on behalf of the Utah Transportation Authority.
"We bought everything we could get our hands on," Pett said.
In most cases, that meant buying unused land in the track right of way and laying new track. In the heavily-used section between Salt Lake City and Provo, Pett bought the right to share track.
She noticed talks went nowhere at first, because Union Pacific dealt with a local agency awaiting passage of sales taxes. The rail giant's recalcitrance melted after the Utah Legislature guaranteed to back the purchase with state funds in the meantime and the governor got involved.
Contracted service on the 44-mile Salt Lake-Ogden track is expected in 2008, six years after the cash spigot opened.
New Mexico hops on
New Mexico will launch its Rail Runner Express line in Albuquerque this summer, three years after getting started.
Project manager Chris Blewett said the stars were perfectly aligned to start service quickly. The governor led the charge to pass a state transportation bond. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad's use of the track was light and diminishing. Amtrak maintained it well. When the agency sought bids to run the service, five private firms stepped forward.
"It's BNSF's policy to work with any area that wants to study commuter rail. It can't degrade quality of freight service, and we have to be compensated reasonably," said Lena Kent, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokeswoman.
Around Phoenix the portents of success are mixed.
The railroad owns the 38-mile track from Phoenix to Wickenburg. Ten freight trains haul grain, retail merchandise and cars on it. The company's transcontinental main line carries 100 trains through Flagstaff. Kent said discussions have begun about the Wickenburg line, but she could not provide details.
Union Pacific owns the track that would serve Phoenix suburbs. The most recent rail study, in 2003, put the cost of track to Chandler, Queen Creek and the West Valley at $876 million. South of Picacho, the railroad runs its main line.
"That system right now is at capacity," said Mark Davis, a Union Pacific spokesman. "Quarter after quarter for the last eight, we've been handling record volumes."
Metrolink's Solow says the rail system needs more capacity by 2010 or "it will fall through the roof."
He says it is not too late for Arizona to invest in rail, but the state has to do it by understanding and accommodating the needs of freight carriers.
For many commuters, the investment can't come soon enough.
"The sooner you get in this business, the better off your urban area is. Everybody will have rail-based transportation if they want to preserve reasonable travel times. If you want to avoid 2?hour commutes, you need an option," said Blewett, New Mexico's passenger rail chief.
Reach the reporter at sean.holstege@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8334