I want to be as clear as I can; the time for passenger rail is here, and we are on the verge of a renaissance in passenger rail. Five years ago, frequencies of the long-distance trains had been cut, dining car service was curtailed, proposals to substitute a bus in the middle of the Southwest Chief route were being bandied about, and the Tucson to Phoenix Sun Corridor study was sitting on a shelf. Today, Amtrak is smashing ridership and revenue records, the long distance trains are running daily except for two which have traditionally been three days per week, full dinning service is back on most western long distance trains and many eastern trains, the Tucson to Phoenix corridor is advancing to the second round of the Corridor ID program, and Amtrak is committed to daily service on the Sunset Limited through Benson, Tucson, Maricopa and Yuma. Make no mistake; this is significant.

As President of All Aboard Arizona and Vice Chair of the Rail Passengers Association, I have had a catbirds seat to this progress which is directly due to two things; the inherent superiority of rail as a mode of passenger transport in so many areas; and, determined advocacy by you and the advocacy community.

We were successful in hosting the national Rail Nation Conference in Tucson last November. At that conference, All Aboard Arizona rolled out a vision for an interconnected Arizona. The proposal views rail passenger stations across the state as transportation hubs with easy access to feeder services. To this end, All Aboard Arizona has built strong partnerships with Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Arizona to bring passenger rail to the forefront and begin working on a plan to seamlessly link all of Arizona. This plan leverages already existing community assets and local transportation services with station improvements and nests them with already existing rail passenger plans to envision a new way to compliment Arizona’s transportation mix. For example, with a daily Sunset back through Phoenix and the additional services planned by the Federal Railroad Administration’s Long-Distance Study, Arizona can conceivably be comprehensively linked by rail passenger services, and in many cases, two daily frequencies. This is a game changer.

Of course, our crown jewel is the Sun Corridor which is proposed to run from Buckeye in the North to Tucson International Airport in the South. This service will directly link three major airports; Sky Harbor in Phoenix, Mesa Gateway Airport and Tucson International. This corridor design is brilliant because it takes passengers through Phoenix to Buckeye, recognizing the need to go through downtown to the growing west side of Phoenix and goes south through downtown Tucson to the airport. This will conveniently create a hub at Tucson International that can serve nearby communities including southeast Arizona and cities like Sierra Vista, Tombstone, Bisbee and Douglas as well as the southern cities of Sahuarita, Green Valley and Nogales. With Mexico’s passenger rail improvements, it is entirely possible that connections to the Mexican rail system will be possible in Nogales.

The Sun Corridor also conveniently serves the two largest state universities which are both conveniently linked to the corridor by light rail in Phoenix and streetcar in Tucson. We can begin to see an Arizona lifestyle where people in Phoenix can head down to Tucson for a day or weekend, perhaps bike the loop, have dinner and return. People in Tucson can run up to Phoenix and take in a Diamondback’s game or spend the weekend. Families who don’t drive will have mobility to visit family members or get to doctor’s appointments without having to worry about scheduling expensive shuttles or arranging transportation.

Our conversations with offline communities indicate how important the Sun Corridor will be for their mobility and economic development. For example, passengers from Oro Valley can board a dedicated bus or shuttle in Oro Valley and catch the train at a new transportation hub at Marana and easily travel to points across Arizona. Having three airports to conveniently shop for fares from and then access easily by train will make life easier wherever you are traveling to. Of course, these trains are all part of the national Amtrak system that can take you across the country as well, and that, with expansions, is projected to serve 85% of America within a convenient catchment area.

Leadership in Washington can change, but the great news is that passenger rail has considerable, bi-partisan support. The current Amtrak Board is the first board in the history of the company that actually is represented of all passenger and regional interests and is comprised of people with expertise and understanding of passenger rail. This is huge because it imposes oversight on Amtrak to ensure the corporation is not overlooking important opportunities and is attuned to national interests. Early indications are that passenger rail may be alright despite tight budgets. It helps that Amtrak covers most of its costs from fares, well in excess of 90%. That means that a dollar invested in Amtrak returns nine times its value in return. That translates into major economic development throughout the country, improved facilities, more employment and more dynamic economic impact.

I recently had the opportunity to take Amtrak across the country from Arizona to the Upper Midwest to visit family. The Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle were on-time or early on the entire trip. The trains were beautiful, clean and well kept. The service was excellent and attentive. The meals on the Sunset were first rate where full dining has been restored. The Texas Eagle has the wonderful Sightseer Lounge car returned to service which was extremely popular among all the passengers. Across Illinois, we ran at 100 mph over long stretches where Federal and State of Illinois investment has improved that corridor. Many passengers were using the Eagle from points in Illinois to Chicago and they absolutely loved the Sightseer Lounge and its panoramic windows.

My trip continued on the Hiawatha Corridor between Chicago and Milwaukee, one of Amtrak’s most successful routes with seven trips a day between Chicago and Milwaukee with a stop at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport. The Hiawatha is an example of what the Sun Corridor can be. It is popular, convenient, and Milwaukee’s beautiful, modern passenger station is linked by the streetcar to downtown destinations. I only walked a few blocks to pick up my rental car. But here’s the deal; after relaxing on the train from Arizona to the Midwest, I was completely relaxed as opposed to that feeling after a long flight. It is hard to take a trip like that and not realize that rail is a wonderful option to have for mobility and for travel ease.

We’re in a great place. Near term, we continue to work on maintaining the progress on the Sun Corridor, working with Amtrak to get the Sunset Limited daily and back through Phoenix, and get the Benson station improved with an ADA accessible platform. We need to continue to push Amtrak’s order for new long-distance, now scheduled to go out in FY ’26 (which begins October 1^st), and a national equipment pool for all intercity passenger cars. Advocates are also pushing for a national passenger rail commission to oversee these efforts.

Mid-term, we continue to work on our Fund the Fifteen program. These are the fifteen new long distance routes proposed by the Federal Railroad Administration’s Long Distance Study and which will have a major impact on Arizona by linking Tucson and Phoenix with points in western Arizona like Wickenburg and Parker to the San Francisco Bay Area and a new service that will link Phoenix to Flagstaff and then east to Albuquerque, Kansas City, Omaha, Sioux Falls and Minneapolis with easy connections to Chicago, St. Louis and points east. We always need to consider stable funding, and a national infrastructure bank is one proposal for accomplishing this. Tweaks to legislation like eliminating the non-federal match for the long-distance trains, and even state supported trains in corridors deemed essential to the national system, makes sense. Longer term, once we have reliable, intercity passenger rail in place, we can begin focusing on building and improving regional transit hubs, working with local businesses to build ridership, and enhancing the passenger experience on the new trains. We also need to think about how rail is structured in America and how we can ensure the mobility needs of America are addressed going forward. In other words, ensuring America has the railroads it needs and not just the railroads that return big profits for Wall Street.

Your support is vital. This progress would not have happened without organizations like All Aboard Arizona and Rail Passengers Association. Join and get involved in making improvements to mobility in America.

All Aboard Arizona will host our annual Passenger Rail Summit in the Spring of 2026. This is a great chance to meet with rail advocates from across the region and hear from nationally renowned speakers on these exciting programs, the progress being made and how to resolve the natural friction points that develop. We can promise a reasonable registration fee, exciting speakers and a fun time to collaborate and interact.

As always, if you have questions or want to provide input, feel free to reach out. I am always glad to talk about rail.

Todd Liebman
President, All Aboard Arizona
Vice Chair, Rail Passenger Association