Phoenix Union Station was constructed in 1923 by the Santa Fe and the Arizona Eastern (Southern Pacific) Railroads.

Used with permission: Phoenix Union Station was commissioned on September 16, 1922, by the Arizona Eastern Railroad Company, a Southern Pacific affiliate, and by the California, Arizona and Santa Fe Railroad, then part of the Santa Fe Railway system and was built by the Robert E. McKee Construction Company.

Three years after the station was completed, the new Southern Pacific main line through Phoenix was opened with the arrival of the eastbound Californian on November 15, 1926.

After the track was fully seasoned, the Golden State and Sunset Limited served the station beginning March 20 of the following year.

When rail travel was at its peak during and immediately after World War II, Phoenix Union Station was served by as many as eighteen trains a day.

Southern Pacific operated the Sunset Limited between Los Angeles and New Orleans, the service which continues under Amtrak today (NOTE: rerouted away from Phoenix proper in 1996, in favor of Maricopa).

In conjunction with the Rock Island, Southern Pacific operated the Golden State Limited, together with several lesser trains on the Los Angeles–Phoenix–Chicago route.

On both days over ten thousand persons gathered to celebrate the importance of this great building and the invaluable service it has provided.In 1995, the last full year Amtrak stopped at Union Station, 21,495 passengers boarded or alighted here.

[6] Amtrak operates the Sunset Limited three times a week from the town of Maricopa, which is in Pinal County thirty miles (48 km) south of downtown Phoenix.