Arizona picks a governor in less than a month. Although I am not old enough to run for governor, here is the platform I would run on. I am a single-issue tunnel-visioned candidate and that issue is this: connecting the major areas of Arizona with passenger trains.

I did a lot of driving this week and every mile made the argument stronger for me. Arizona’s cities and towns sit along two long corridors and for most trips a car is the only real option.

The plan I came up to deal with my road rage has two main legs. The first crosses north from Kingman through Williams, Flagstaff and Winslow to Holbrook. The second runs from Flagstaff down to Phoenix and on to Tucson. ADOT would run both, the way it already runs our highways. Then eventually the Holbrook station could connect all the way to Show Low.

The track is already down. BNSF’s main line covers Kingman to Holbrook and Amtrak’s Southwest Chief rides it once a day in each direction. A BNSF branch drops from Williams through Wickenburg into Phoenix. Union Pacific track links Phoenix and Tucson. The state would not have to carve a single new route through the desert.

Think about housing. Arizona has some rough housing markets and Flagstaff is one of them. A morning train would let someone live in Williams or Winslow and commute to a job in Flagstaff efficiently and more reliably. The same goes for Wickenburg and Phoenix, and for every town between Phoenix and Tucson. Making this as easy as possible allows people to move to these smaller towns and spend money while creating a positive feedback loop that means the towns can invest more in themselves.

Then there is the fun part. A Phoenix couple could board on a Friday and spend the weekend in Winslow or Holbrook, just to see what’s going on. Most of us know these towns are only seen as exit signs on I-40 to many people who would genuinely enjoy spending time here. A train would make them places people visit again.

None of this happens if we ask the freight railroads nicely. They own the track, and they would rather keep it to themselves. But federal law gives Amtrak the right to run passenger trains on freight track and Amtrak runs trains for states that sponsor them, such as California and Illinois. Arizona should become one of those states and lean on BNSF and Union Pacific the way Amtrak does.

This is not even to mention how we would no longer need to build additional lanes every four years on our major roadways and we could use that money elsewhere around the state. Less potholes to fix and less semi-trucks cutting us off on the I-17.

We are not starting from zero either. ADOT is already studying a Phoenix-to-Tucson train with federal money, though nothing is funded to build it. My platform is to stop studying one piece and commit to the whole map: buy a few trains, publish a schedule and keep to it.

I am not on the ballot. However, I am officially allowing any candidate to take this plan and run with it on the contingency they name me Arizona’s Train Czar with an accompanying robe and staff.