Last week, we mentioned that Light Rail would be "rolling in to Mesa" today. While it wasn't exactly a huge party, it was symbolic of what is to come for Mesa. In many ways, I feel that Mesa will benefit greatly from this initial stretch of rail. While they only have about a mile of light rail, the future extensions extending in to Mesa should benefit greatly from the experiences of the project. Yesterday, in Phoenix, Rick Simonetta (Metro CEO) spoke about how they are continuing to improve their systems. West Mesa has been in the news a bit recently and there is no doubt that the area has been and will continue to change. The future for Mesa heading east to a downtown that has failed in revitalization attempts in the past, appears much brighter with light rail cars getting people to and from there. The Mesa Arts Center, the shops along Main street and some of the older neighborhoods that have so much potential should benefit greatly from this light rail system. It doesn't take a genius to see how much development has been put in place along the existing 20 mile stretch of the starter line. For all of us at Rail Life, it will be fun to watch... We hope you enjoy the ride! 

Ok... So I mentioned that they were going to be doing some testing in Mesa this week. I just so happened to be heading south on the 101 yesterday and decided to exit to take a look on Apache and see if any of the light rail cars were running. Sure enough, I was able to follow one towards the Sycamore / Main stop and shoot this quick video. Yeah, we were driving and holding a camera out the window. (please don't try this yourself, it could be kind of stupid) I did notice a lot of people stopping to check everything out. Glad to see the testing is going well.

Wow.. This past week was action packed for Metro and for people wanting more information about the new light rail cars. Yesterday, the trains made their first trip up Central Avenue. We were lucky to have Joy get some video of this historic trip. I think the video does a great job in giving you a feel for some of the excitement in Phoenix. Joy has been tremendous help and support at Rail Life since the begining.. Thanks Joy!

If you want to see the light rail cars in action from this mornings tests along Central Avenue, go check out The News From Downtown Phoenix. I can't wait to see the cars running full time in December! Thanks Eddie, for sharing the info.. Looking forward to the pics as well..

Oh yeah, have you seen us on Flickr?