Arizona Rail Passenger Association

from the Arizona Republic, 5 December 2007

South Tempe, Ahwatukee and west Chandler could get a little closer to light rail if a new Tempe South Corridor Study shows it would relieve increasingly heavy north-south traffic…

The study will examine transportation needs of the area between Priest Drive and Loop 101, and downtown Tempe and the Santan Freeway. The area includes Chandler Fashion Center and the Price Corridor…

A light-rail extension south from the line under construction in Tempe along Apache Boulevard is an option, but it’s not the only one, [Wulf] Grote said. Additional bus lines or commuter rail service on the Union Pacific tracks between Kyrene and Priest roads also will be examined…

Rest of the story in the Arizona Republic

Scottsdale will join the group that oversees the Valley’s light-rail plans in order to pursue future study of running a transit system up Scottsdale Road.The City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to become the seventh city to be part of Valley Metro Rail, or METRO, despite hearing from a number of residents opposing the city’s pursuit of light rail or modern streetcars…“We need to be part of the policy discussion and know what other cities are doing,” Mayor Mary Manross said. “At the end of the day, we are connected to neighbors.”

Rest of the story in the East Valley Tribune, 13 December 2007.

Tempe, December, 2007 — Ten years almost to the day after the 1997 Arizona Rail Passenger Association Awards Dinner, and a special train from the Arizona Railway Museum, the new Valley Metro Rail line (second photo) is nearly ready for its first service

The 1997 train was the very last train ever to operate on the old “Creamery Branch” of the Southern Pacific.

Marc Pearsall photos taken from Tempe Butte