New schedule for FrontRunner north trains to increase wait times


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SALT LAKE CITY — Changes are coming to the FrontRunner north line between Salt Lake City and Ogden. Now that the new FrontRunner south is finished, trains from Ogden won't stop and stay in Salt Lake City anymore. They will continue to Provo.

This is a change that is upsetting some people. Normally during non-peak hours of the day, it's only a 30 minute wait for the next train heading north to Ogden. But now with the route extension, the wait between trains will be an hour.

"If they're going to be doing that, it'll probably force me to drive rather than take the train," said Woods Cross resident, Kelvin Foutz.

Kelvin Foutz lives in Woods Cross and is a non-peak FrontRunner rider. For him, waiting an hour just isn't fast enough to continue taking the train.

"So it's not going to be that big of an issue for me to just drive," Foutz said.

UTA doesn't want to lose riders, but says it can't keep trains going to Ogden every half hour during non-peak times. Those trains that used to stop in Salt Lake and go back to Ogden will now continue on to Provo.

"For those who have been used to getting a train every half hour heading north, they've been a little bit spoiled because we had to do that as part of our operations," said UTA spokesman, Gerry Carpenter.

UTA says it just doesn't have the budget or rail capacity to add more trains.

"There are growing pains," Carpenter said. "We have doubled the size of our commuter rail system."

For FrontRunner north riders during non-peak hours, it means a new schedule and being on time or having to wait another hour.

"We have like 30 or 50 seconds to get on and off before it heads to Ogden, so it's pretty crazy," said Ogden resident, Kenneth Durbin.

The non-peak hour wait between trains is also in affect for FrontRunner south riders. However, their service starts next week so those commuters have never become accustomed to 30-minute, non-peak wait times.

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