Paul Atkinson/KJZZ

Phoenix is the nation’s fifth-largest city but still doesn’t have Amtrak passenger train service. That has been the case since 1996.

Arizona has a deep history of train travel, as it was a practical and picturesque way of going from rural to urban areas and vice versa.

But even as passion for high speed rail from Phoenix to Tucson — or simply expanding basic train travel — pops up every now and then, little to no progress has been made.

But advocates are optimistic that the new Biden administration — featuring a president whose nickname is "Amtrak Joe" — could help change that.

Todd Liebman is the president of All Aboard Arizona. The Show spoke with him about how much locomotive progress we could see.

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