Arizona Rail Passenger Association

Come celebrate ARPA’s Thirtieth Birthday at Scottsdale McCormick Stillman Railroad Park! Free to all ARPA members and our families.

RSVP to the ARPA Message Line, 480.947.5710.

Trains, lanes and automobiles.

Those are the big options on the table as state leaders prepare for millions of new cars expected to clog our roads and freeways over the next two decades, pumping out tons more pollution to cloud the skies.

Last week Gov. Janet Napolitano signed an executive order for the Arizona Department of Transportation to look into mass transit options.

The move has the mayors of Tucson and Phoenix, as well as some legislators, beaming about the possibility of a commuter train between the two cities. With the order, ADOT is putting the pedal to the metal to update a 1998 study on the train within the next 90 days…

[ Tucson Mayor Bob] Walkup and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon say they’ve been working together on the issue for three years, and see the governor’s order as a major turning-point…

Rest of the story in the Arizona Daily Star

Jim Walsh, The Arizona Republic, Jan. 16, 2007
Two years before the first Metro light-rail train rumbles across the Valley, a maze of bus routes connecting to rail stations is planned to boost ridership, curb congestion and reduce air pollution.

The Metro rail will stretch 20 miles from northwest Phoenix to west Mesa, making bus connections from every direction essential.

Valley Metro is adding at least 14 express routes that either will connect to the Metro light-rail line or fill in the gaps until Metro is expanded.

Rest of the story in the Arizona Republic

Letter received fom: Lloyd Clark, 27 February 1990, To: Rob Bohannan.

Regarding the history of the Arizona Rail Passenger Association –

I checked my 1976 Daybook. It showed an entry for Friday, November 12th, whereby Charles Montooth and I met for lunch at the Golden Eagle (atop Valley Bank Center [now the Chase building -- 2007, Ed.]) and discussed formation of a regional rail passenger organization.

A press release (copy, ANNEX A) was issued. The meeting place had to be changed after Amtrak notified us that the train could not stop at Picacho because of SP’s decision (see notice, ANNEX B). The organizational meeting was held on 22 January 1977 in Tucson (ANNEX C). Names of the persons attending are shown on ANNEX D.

Subsequently, the name: Rail Passenger Association of the Southwest (RPAS) was adopted, with Arizona, New Mexico, and the El Paso area of Texas to be its geographical area.

Hope this is the information you wanted.

Best Regards, [signed, Lloyd]

Also enclosed, press photo: “Observance of Rail Passenger Week in Arizona (17-23 April 1978) was proclaimed by Governor Bruce Babbit, who urged all persons ‘to consider the benefits of traveling by railroad.’ From left are W. A. Ordway, director of the Arizona Department of Transportation; State Sen. Sue Dye, president of the Rail Passenger Associaton of the Southwest, and Charles Montooth, a director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.”

ANNEX A — PRESS RELEASE

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS LOCAL MEETING SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 22 [1977]

A gathering of railroad passengers interested in traveling in and across Arizona by train is being planned for Jan. 22. The meeting will be at 9 a.m. that Saturday at Francisco Grande Hotel, Casa Grande, according to Charles Montooth of Scottsdale.

Montooth — regional director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers — said the meeting is open to anyone interested in rail travel. Slides of various railroad accommodations will be shown, and proposed improvements and scheduling will be discussed, Montooth stated.

In keeping with the spirit of the meeting AMTRAK has agreed to stop its eastbound train at Picacho that morning so a group of NARP members from the Phoenix area may be discharged. A chartered bus will take the group from Picacho to Francisco Grande, he said.

The eastbound train departs Phoenix Union Station at 7 a.m. that Saturday, and the group will have breakfast on the diner en route — arriving at Picacho around 8 a.m. A delegation from Tucson is expected to join the gathering at Francisco Grande, but will travel by auto, Montooth noted, as the westbound train out of Tucson does not pass Picacho until after nightfall.

Persons interested in making reservations (at $25 per individual) for the train ride from Phoenix, the luncheon, and the charter bus from Picacho to Francisco Grande and return to Phoenix Union Station may call Montooth’s office at Taliesin West, 948-6400.

The Arizona Republic, Jan. 14, 2007

SALT LAKE CITY – When light rail opened here seven years ago, people lined up around the block. From the first day, the trains carried more people than were forecast for 2025.

Seats are still scarce as the boxlike trains thread through downtown. On a bitter cold day last month, they filled up with office workers heading north and construction workers and retail clerks going south. Lines of trains waited for Utah Jazz fans. Families flocked back from a downtown mall with armfuls of gifts.

Residents of the Salt Lake area have embraced light rail to a degree that few imagined. Its popularity would seem a harbinger of crowds to come when the Valley’s trains begin to roll in late 2008. The Salt Lake and Phoenix areas are similar, as both lie in the mountain West and are car-dependent…

Rest of the story: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0114saltlake-main0114.html