Valley may get interim rail
UTA hopes to put U.P. line into use by 2011
Negotiations are under way between local transportation officials and Union Pacific Railroad to develop a temporary, peak-hour commuter rail service that would connect Utah Valley to Salt Lake City as soon as 2011.
If an agreement can be reached, the Utah Transit Authority would operate passenger train service between Salt Lake City and Provo on the existing U.P. freight line during I-15's peak morning and evening traffic hours, said Darrell Cook, executive director of the Mountainland Association of Governments.
The interim commuter rail service is one of 13 projects local transportation officials say need to be completed before the expected start of the four-year reconstruction of I-15 in Utah County in 2012.
MAG and the Utah Department of Transportation are on board with the temporary rail project, which according to preliminary estimates would cost about $92 million.
UTA likes the idea, too, but wants to see commuter rail become more than a temporary fix.
"It's time for an alternative to I-15 in Utah County," said UTA spokesman Justin Jones. "This can be an exciting temporary solution, and we feel like commuter rail can become a permanent solution to the congestion issues in Utah County."
UTA owns right of way from Brigham City to Payson, he said, which allows for new track to be laid alongside the existing Union Pacific tracks.
Using the U.P. freight track would "save tens of millions of dollars" in getting the interim rail up and running, Jones said, but rail cars would still need to be purchased, and stations and parking lots would need to be built.
"We would want to do this with the assumption that it would become permanent at some point," he said. "You don't want to make the investment of parking lots, stations and rail cars only to scrap them when the I-15 construction is over."
An agreement with UTA is only one of the deals that must be worked out, said Dave Nazare, UDOT's Region 3 director.
"The 800-pound gorilla in the room is Union Pacific Railroad," Nazare said.
U.P.'s initial response was, "No way," Nazare said, but the negotiations didn't stop there.
Calls to U.P. officials for comment were not immediately returned.
The negotiations are still in the very early stages, Jones said, but UTA officials are "hopeful."
"We have a positive relationship with Union Pacific," he said. "We've had successful negotiations with them in the past."
Construction is under way on a 44-mile section of commuter rail that will extend from Salt Lake City north to Pleasant View in Weber County. The project, scheduled to be completed by early 2008, is expected to cost $581 million.
Freight traffic in Davis and Weber counties is much heavier than in Utah County, Jones said, which makes the interim commuter rail proposal a more viable option.
"Commuter rail is one solution that's going to work very well in the north, from Salt Lake to Weber County," he said. "It may work very well in Utah County as well."
E-mail: jpage@desnews.com
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