Plans are continuing to move forward for the building of what could be a 158-mile rail corridor connecting two major cities in population-dense southern Arizona.
The Arizona Department of Transportation is laying out a map of what a corridor between Phoenix and Tucson would look like and how many stations it might entail.
In a recent presentation to the Pima Association of Governments, it was noted that the corridor idea has now moved from the scoping stage to the project planning stage.
Last summer the Federal Railroad Administration gave its approval to a work plan developed by the ADOT, with hopes that a service development plan for the corridor will win grant approval to take the project to the next step.
That service development plan will put an emphasis on both public and stakeholder engagement and, according to the ADOT, “is expected to take approximately two to three years to develop.”
As part of the process, the service development plan will also require an FRA review and the ultimate approval of that agency.
Such projects move incrementally. In remarks before the Pima Association of Governments, Carlos Lopez, project manager with ADOT, noted that the step after the service development plan will include a “completion of the environmental clearance,” preliminary to a “shovel-ready project for future design and construction.”
The Phoenix to Tucson rail corridor idea has excited the imagination of transit enthusiasts for more than a decade, with upwards of $3.5 million in state funding so far secured for the planning process.
Upon the announcement of FRA’s approval of the corridor work plan, Jennifer Toth, ADOT Director, remarked that the project “holds the promise of more economic growth and employment while enhancing mobility for rural areas and families in communities between Phoenix and Tucson.”
February 5, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Rendition courtesy of Arizona Department of Transportation
