A Tucson company wants to send you someday on a sun-fueled ride from one end of the state to the other.
The idea of a high-speed train that runs on solar power is still in its early stage, but the project's creators are pitching the idea to area cities and potential investors.
The idea is to start a train system that connects Tucson and Phoenix in a first phase. In the future it would extend north to Grand Canyon and south to Nogales. The cost for the first phase alone is estimated at $27 billion.
It could start operating in 2018.
Retired civil engineer Bill Gaither and business partner Raymond Wright set up Solar Bullet LLC in Tucson in hopes of designing and building the 220 mph solar bullet train, which would run on four tracks.
The innermost two tracks would be reserved for nonstop travel from Tucson to Phoenix, going 116 miles in a half hour, said Gaither.
The other tracks would serve six intermediate stations in Chandler, Maricopa, Casa Grande, Eloy, Red Rock and Marana, extending the Phoenix-Tucson travel time to approximately 60 minutes, according to the project outline.
The rail could open up new opportunities for economic development in those cities, said Gaither. The train would require 110 megawatts of electricity and would operate with solar power generated from overhead panels. It would have a dedicated right-of-way.
Wright and Gaither met in 2008 during a Tucsonans for Sensible Transit meeting and worked together on the project. They are currently working independently.
Wright has recently consulted with the engineering department at the University of Arizona to propose the system for federal funding. He figures his timing is right, given President Obama's push for alternative energy transportation projects.
Gaither is looking to city officials at each of the intermediate stations and asking them to put up $5,000 toward the $35,000 needed for an economic and tax revenue analysis before the project moves forward. He is also organizing a workshop later this year for the intermediate cities.
A local transportation official said the solar-train idea may be worth further study but faces major obstacles.
"It's a really fascinating concept. The price tag is quite high," said Gary Hayes, executive director of the Pima Association of Governments and the Regional Transportation Authority.
Hayes said he's met the solar-train organizers to talk about the concept, including the possibility of local government support for the economic analysis.
He noted that a Tucson-Phoenix passenger train has been talked about for years, and the state Transportation Department is conducting a study of the concept under a U.S. grant.
But Hayes said arranging the billions in government funding likely needed for the train would be tough, especially since the Tucson-Phoenix route was not on a list of priority high-speed rail corridors released recently by the Obama administration.
"First and foremost, you'd have to get on that list and then go from there," Hayes said.
Still, he's not ready to dismiss the idea out of hand.
