By Antonio Valenzuela
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 30, 1998

Tucson-Phoenix train is intriguing...deceptive

To the Editor:

A high-speed train between Tucson and Phoenix, what an awesome idea! ("Riding the rails to Phoenix," Jan. 14.) Just imagine yourself cruising at 200 mph on your next trip to the Valley of the Sun. Forget the traffic hassles or the increasing costs of those shuttle companies. You'll be home in just 30 minutes and you didn't have to sit behind a wheel.

Well, now thanks to a vision by the Arizona Department of Transportation, this dream may soon become a reality. They would like to believe that by the year 2008, you would not have to worry about driving to Phoenix anymore. The reason a new magnetic levitation technology that would propel a train at speeds of up to 250 mph. And the cost would only be approximately $36 one way.

Wonderful, you say? Don't be fooled. Nothing can be further from the truth. With the $6 billion price tag of this maglev, they could expand the stretch of I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson to six lanes, from four. That would only cost $1.3 and the surplus could buy every Tucson resident with a driver's license a new car. ADOT argues that the freeway will reach its capacity by 2005. This train will not be completed until 2008, so they will have built the freeway anyway. Who will need a train then?

As far as the $36 cost, that is only for one-way fare. Round-trip would be $72 and the train would undoubtedly not run at 250 mph. The Amtrak metroliner that runs between Washington, D.C. and New York costs $112 for the one-way, three-hour, 240-mile trip. That averages to about $50 for the distance the Arizona train would travel. Also, the Amtrak train normally runs at 80 to 90 mph, although it is designed to run at 140, because of maintenance deficiencies and legal limitations.

So don't be fooled by this intriguing, yet deceptive idea by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Our money could be better spent. Let's stop levitating on magnetic dreams and put our fat rubber tires back on the pavement of reality.

Antonio Valenzuela
Pima Community College student
Member, Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee