PHOENIX — Beginning May 1, Amtrak began operating a Thruway bus connecting service in Maricopa, Ariz., for passengers traveling on the tri-weekly Sunset Limited-Texas Eagle service wanting to travel to the Tempe and Phoenix areas. Stagecoach Express is operating the shuttle service on the days the Sunset Limited operates through Maricopa.
Thruway stops include:
• Macayo’s Depot Cantina, 300 South Ash Avenue, Tempe
• Phoenix (Metro Center Transit Station), 9617 North Metro Parkway West, Phoenix
• Phoenix Airport, 3400 East Sky Harbor Blvd., Terminal 2 – Outside Door 8 – Intercity Shuttle Island (shuttle staff available 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.).
Amtrak was forced to eliminate direct service to Phoenix in 1996 when Union Pacific downgraded the line west of the city that connected to the Sunset Route near Yuma, Ariz. Maricopa, about 40 miles south of downtown Phoenix, has been the Phoenix stop ever since.
Arizona could have kept the Phoenix connection alive as a stop for Amtrak but did not want to spend the money to keep that section of track open.
In the winter of 1997 my family was headed from LA to Tucson on the Sunset Limited. Because of a derailment or some other problem on the main line, our train was rerouted through Phoenix. I wonder if that was the last time Amtrak stopped at the Phoenix RR station.
They need to ad a stop south of Phoenix in Chandler. Then make the Sunset a daily train and restore service east of New Orleans. But if it took Amtrak 21 years to implement a thruway to Maricopa, these two changes won’t happen in my lifetime.
Train and bus company
Better than nothing; besides to be more of a train ?? ?? company
21 years and the best done is a bus.