When the FrontRunner commuter train begins service between Salt Lake City and Ogden on Saturday, it will be a journey back to the future for passenger rail on the Wasatch Front. Somewhere, Simon Bamberger will be smiling.
Bamberger, who became Utah's fourth governor, was a visionary businessman who completed a short line railroad between Salt Lake City and Ogden in 1908. He electrified his trains in 1910, and the Bamberger Electric Railroad Co. shuttled commuters between Utah's political and railroad capitals until it closed in 1952, a victim of the automobile.
But now the automobile is a victim of its own popularity, particularly through the I-15 bottleneck in Davis County. Utah is launching the $611 million FrontRunner as part of a multipronged effort, which includes Legacy Parkway, to unstop that bottleneck and improve air quality. The highway is scheduled to open in the fall.
Unlike Bamberger's trains, FrontRunner is powered by diesel locomotives. Its two-level cars will whisk passengers at up to 80 mph between eight stations on the line. According to its environmental impact statement, the train will eliminate 191,000 vehicle miles traveled on the freeway daily and reduce the air pollutants that contribute to smog.
The big unanswered question is whether large numbers of commuters will ride the new train. When the Sandy TRAX light rail line opened in 1999, we wondered the same thing, but Utahns embraced it, so much so that UTA has built the additional University Line and has three more nearing construction.
But FrontRunner is a different animal, and it won't be cheap to ride. A one-way ticket to Ogden costs $5, and a monthly pass costs $145. That's still probably cheaper than paying to drive a car with a single occupant, and it may look even better as gasoline prices continue to rise. Down the line, UTA may have to adjust prices as it gains market experience.
But mass transit riders sacrifice convenience. To minimize that, UTA has built 3,400 park-and-ride slots along the route, and is adjusting TRAX schedules and bus routes to connect with FrontRunner. The biggest example is the $42 million TRAX extension from EnergySolutions Arena to the Salt Lake Central Station at 250 S. 600 West. The extension also opens this weekend so that FrontRunner riders can step off that train and onto TRAX.
TRAX schedules and some bus routes and schedules are being tweaked, so UTA patrons should check for changes at www.rideuta.com.
The Tribune long has supported TRAX and FrontRunner as alternatives to the pollution and congestion of the automobile. Beginning this weekend, Utahns will begin to demonstrate whether the latest step in that journey has been worthwhile.
