The Grand Canyon Railway, which offers daily tourist excursion service from Williams, Arizona, to the Grand Canyon, now carries about 130,000 passengers annually to the South Rim. This exceeded Amtrak’s 1997 ridership to Arizona destinations. While Grand Canyon’s ridership has been increasing, Amtrak ridership in Phoenix fell from 21,495 in 1995 to just 199 last year after bus service was substituted for direct Sunset Limited rail service.
Amtrak Station    1997 Rail Ridership
Kingman    3,137
Flagstaff    53,229
Winslow    2,553
Yuma    2,036
Tucson    23,578
Benson    1,278
TOTAL Â Â Â 85,811
(Source: NARP)
According to the Mesa Tribune, Grand Canyon’s Max Biegert “wants to add scheduled daily flights [from Scottsdale Airport] to Williams Airport and to Grand Canyon Airport to link up with his train service to the Grand Canyon. …Scottsdale visitors could fly to Williams in the morning, take the train to the Canyon, spend the day and fly back in time for cocktails at their Scottsdale hotel.”
In 1991 and 1992, the City of Williams and ARPA asked Amtrak to implement a Williams stop to coordinate with Grand Canyon Railway service. Wrote James Hoffman, Mayor of Williams, “We have the support of the local community, including the Grand Canyon Railway, in pursuing the implementation of service. We recognize that, among other things, the City of Williams must provide a suitable platform, lighting, parking area and an enclosed shelter. Kindly advise me what Williams can do to provide ready access to Amtrak and to facilitate your decision to implement service here.”
In the final letter, Graham Claytor of Amtrak responded, “Our recent route analysis indicated that Williams, Arizona, the Grand Canyon Railway, and the Grand Canyon are already adequately served through the Flagstaff stop which is only 30 miles away.” Then, as now, there is a bus connection from Flagstaff to Williams.
Meanwhile, through this September 30, Steam Engine #4960 will pull Grand Canyon Railway’s vintage train from the historic 1908 Williams Depot through the world’s largest stand of Ponderosa pines, high desert plains and small arroyos to its ultimate destination: the Grand Canyon. GCRy offers five classes of service, from coach through dome to luxury parlor-car.
Grand Canyon Railway:
1-800-THE-TRAIN
or www.thetrain.com
Amtrak:
1-800-USA-RAIL
or www.amtrak.com
