Arizona Wins OK For Corridor ID Phase Two

By Jim Mathews / President & CEO

Whether you joined us for our Fall RailNation: Tucson event last year or you’re a full-fledged Arizonan, you know all about Arizona DOT’s long-planned rail route between Phoenix and Tucson.

Thanks to the Federal Railroad Administration’s announcement this week that the project has cleared the first phase of the multi-stage Corridor Identification Program, that route is one step closer to reality.

In December of 2023, Arizona successfully competed for a Phase I Corridor ID grant to develop a preliminary outline of what the service could look like. This week, FRA signed off on that plan and opened the gate to enter Phase II – the development of a formal Service Development Plan, which comes with $10 million in Federal development funding.

“We see passenger rail connecting the Phoenix and Tucson areas as an important addition to transportation options for Arizona,” said ADOT Director Jennifer Toth in a prepared statement. “It holds the promise of more economic growth and employment while enhancing mobility for rural areas and families in communities between Phoenix and Tucson.”

Although this is all early-stage work, it’s also crucial because getting it wrong at this stage can doom a project. We know that rail serves communities and builds prosperity, but that happens best when the service offered is frequent, affordable, and efficient.

The Service Development Plan is where real detailed effort begins, with engineers and planners using analyses of travel data and access to jobs, schools, airports, to work out how many stations there should be, where they should be built. They’ll also assess infrastructure needs and capital investment costs, forecast ridership, design a preliminary timetable, and outline a schedule for service to begin.