The Phoenix Subdivision is a railroad line in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

owned by the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

. The southeast end of the line connects to the Gila Subdivision near Eloy, runs northeast to

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

, and becomes the Roll Industrial Lead, running southwest before reconnecting to the Gila Subdivision at Wellton. , of the line between

Roll Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

and Arlington are out of service and used for car storage.

Usage

The railway is used by almost exclusively for freight movements, with about four trains per day . The McElhaney Cattle Company maintains trackage rights over the western of the line, with traffic consisting of

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

cars.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

ran the ''

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is an Amtrak passenger train that for most of its history has operated between New Orleans and Los Angeles, over the nation's second transcontinental route. However, up until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it operated betwe ...

'' on the route until 1996 when Union Pacific wanted to reduce upkeep costs on the west end of the line; passenger service was rerouted to

Maricopa Maricopa can refer to: Places * Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city ** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix ** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona * Maricopa County, Arizona, United States * Marico ...

. The line is part of a system of proposed commuter rail lines in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

History

The rail line between Wellton and Phoenix was built by the

Southern Pacific Railway The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

, with passenger service commencing in 1928. The line was downgraded to a branch line in 1997, as most traffic was rerouted via Maricopa.

References

{{reflist Rail infrastructure in Arizona Union Pacific Railroad lines Rail transportation in Phoenix, Arizona