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Aging TRAX trains coupled with not enough down time to overhaul them is creating repair issues for the Utah Transit Authority (UTA).
The trains, which were brand new, shining things almost nine years ago, now have more than 600,000 miles on them. Things are now wearing out, all the way from parts that convert power in the trains to electronic devices that control the doors.
Paul O'Brien, manager of UTA Rail Operations, said, "Our mileage is way above the typical transit system. Our light-rail vehicles average anywhere from 30 to 40 percent more miles on a typical month than any other transit system in the United States."
On my way to work this morning, two of the doors would not close. If doors don't work, trains don't move. I got to work not 35 minutes later but almost an hour later. That was not the first time doors have held up trains. O'Brien, says crews are trying to work through some of these mechanical issues that seem to be piling up.
As the economy turned sour, more people have been jumping on board TRAX. In August, ridership was up 27 percent from a year ago.
But it's a two-edged sword. UTA lost $6.5 million in sales tax revenues in the first six months of this year because people are not buying as much. Gas prices also went up, raising the price of diesel fuel for buses and FrontRunner. The economy has forced UTA to issue a hiring freeze.
Instead of taking several days to a week to overhaul trains, crews do maintenance on TRAX from roughly 4 a.m. to midnight. But now, at certain times that changes.
"A train may go out in the morning," O'Brien said, "and we'll cut that train in half in the middle of the day, hustle the car back into the yard, do some preventive maintenance and then put it out again for the evening rush hour."
The new airport line opens before the end of this year. After that, it's the Draper line, and then in 2011 more lines for the west side of the valley.
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com