Light rail comes with praise and warnings

Hooray! Light rail has come to Tempe! Look out! Light rail has come to Tempe. That dual message came during a ceremony at a downtown rail station Thursday morning that was half celebration over a public transit milestone and half public service announcement for safety.

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Although Metro's passenger service isn't set to begin until late December, earlier this week the rail line through Tempe into Mesa saw its first train. It was a test run, one of many scheduled over the coming months.

"You're going to start seeing trains here on a very regular basis, so get used to it," said Rick Simonetta, Metro chairman.

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman later added: "Trains are heavy. You don't want your car or body or bicycle to meet one."

Metro officials and the Tempe City Council came to the ceremony via a train from the light-rail system's maintenance yard in east Phoenix. It took about 10 minutes to make the trip from 48th Street south of Washington Street to the station at Third Street and Mill Avenue.

Disembarking first was Hallman, dressed in the garb of an old-time train engineer: blue pinstriped cap and denim overalls, whistle in a chest pocket, while carrying a lantern.

"We've suffered through the construction, and now is the first day of the celebration of a great transportation system," Hallman said.

Of the 20-mile Phoenix-to-Mesa line, about five miles are located in Tempe.

But, as Hallman noted, it was the city's residents who jump-started the concept of light rail in the Valley. In 1996, voters approved a half-cent transportation tax with some funding made available for rail studies, making Tempe the region's first municipality to get on board.

Hallman, while touting light rail as part of an integrated transportation system, took the opportunity to voice support for commuter rail.

Commuter rail is a transit alternative that would be part of a $42 billion transportation ballot initiative that may go before Arizona voters in November.

Business leaders and Gov. Janet Napolitano are pushing a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax to fund a wide range of transportation improvements. Some of the money would be used for high-speed intercity and urban commuter rail services.

"There's not a reason in the world we should not have commuter rail connecting at the historic depot in downtown Tempe," Hallman said.