Maricopa station is an

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 intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

train station in

Maricopa, Arizona Maricopa is a city in the Gila River Valley in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. With 66,290 residents as of 2022, Maricopa is the largest incorporated municipality in Pinal County. History Maricopa has had three locations over the years: ...

, United States, serving Phoenix and central Arizona. The station accommodates travelers who use the combined ''

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is a long-distance passenger train run by Amtrak, operating on a route between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Major stops include Houston, San Antonio and El Paso in Texas, as well as Tucson, Arizona. Opening in 1894 thr ...

'' and ''

Texas Eagle The ''Texas Eagle'' is a long-distance passenger train operated daily by Amtrak on a route between Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas, with major stops in St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin. Three days per week, t ...

'', which operates three times per week in each direction between

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Amtrak Thruway Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transi ...

service (operated by Stagecoach Express) is available between Maricopa station, Tempe station and

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a civil-military public international airport east of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport; among the largest commercial airports ...

History

Maricopa station opened in 1996 after Amtrak was forced to withdraw from Phoenix Union Station due to deteriorated track conditions on the secondary

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

line which diverged from the mainline to serve Phoenix. In 1999, the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of ...

dome car A dome car is a type of railway Passenger car (rail), passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a Coach (rail), coach, lounge c ...

, "''The Silver Horizon''" that was previously used on the ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville station, Emeryville), via Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, Denver, Sa ...

'' was moved to the site to be used as the station office. The old railcar would eventually prove unsuitable, and Amtrak moved the

modular building A modular building is a prefabricated building that consists of repeated sections called modules. Modularity involves constructing sections away from the building site, then delivering them to the intended site. Installation of the prefabricate ...

s that were previously used during the

Tucson station Tucson station is an Amtrak train depot in Tucson, Arizona, served by six trains a week, or three per direction, by the combined ''Sunset Limited''/''Texas Eagle'' train. History The depot was built in 1907 by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) ...

remodeling to Maricopa. The historic dome car remained on the station site on static display. On May 1, 2017, Amtrak started a new

shuttle service (operated by Stagecoach Express) connecting Maricopa station with Tempe station and

. Maricopa station has a very short platform (just over long) only slightly longer than each Superliner car used by Amtrak. This arrangement forces train crews to make as many as four separate stops in order to load and unload passengers from various sections of the train. Because the platform is located was close to

Arizona State Route 347 State Route 347 (SR 347) is a long, north–south state highway in central Arizona. The route begins at SR 84 and heads north. It passes through Maricopa, meeting SR 238. The route ends at an interchange with Interstate 10 (I-10) sout ...

, traffic on the highway could be blocked for more than 15 minutes. The city of Maricopa and

studied moving the station west onto a siding on city-owned property, but the cost was projected at $4.2 million, which the city was unwilling to pay. The project was replaced with a plan to build a new overpass that would carry SR 347 over the railroad tracks. The $55 million project was funded with grants received from the federal government, as well as in part by the City of Maricopa, the Arizona Department of Transportation, and the Union Pacific Railroad. As part of the project, the dome car was moved from the station to a location down the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway on January 10, 2019. Amtrak has suggested direct rail service could return to Phoenix by 2035.

References

External links

Maricopa Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide – Train Web)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maricopa (Amtrak Station) Buildings and structures in Pinal County, Arizona Amtrak stations in Arizona Transportation in Pinal County, Arizona Maricopa, Arizona Railway stations in the United States opened in 1996