In my time in Utah I have been impressed at how well-connected the Wasatch Front region is via its network of public transportation. Up until now, that amounted to only buses and a light rail system in Salt Lake County (City too, I never figured out if they have separate or shared governments, as SLC city limits, unlike in Philadelphia, do not coincide with county borders). On April 26, the Utah Transit Authority (rideuta.com) launched the northern half of its regional commuter rail named FrontRunner (as it "runs" along the Wasatch Front).My wife and I took my grandmother on FrontRunner to Salt Lake City on Saturday. The ride was nice, but the train was packed. I'm sure many people were there to check out the newest thing, and I think it will be a big hit with commuters. We then proceeded directly onto a waiting light rail (TRAX) train. We took TRAX to its eastern terminus, the University of Utah Medical Center. We hoped to catch a shuttle from there to Red Butte Garden. Unfortunately, the shuttle runs only on weekdays, a fact not disclosed on the website (U of U shuttle). Faced with a 1.5 mile walk, and traveling with my 81-year old grandmother, we decided just to ride the rails back home. My grandmother really enjoyed the trip, and had fun seeing the mountains and the city from the train.
The first picture is of the FrontRunner train at Salt Lake Central station. As far as I can tell, these trains do not turn around, and "forward" is North. When we got the train in Clearfield to head south, we back car approached us first.
Next is a shot of Angela helping my grandmother board the train in Salt Lake City.
Finally, here's a shot of the nose at the Clearfield station.
1 comment:
okay, so a growing passenger train system is another impressive thing for a metro area and state to have.
Can't say that AMTRAK looks anywhere near healthy, but the state and city level looks rather good for rail transit back home.
England has an impressive network, but it is a horrible mess, now involving the government giving a dozen or so private companies more tax money than the nationalized carrier was ever given and then letting them run it all into the ground for a profit.
All funding for new projects has to ultimately come from the national government for new projects, so this is a case for our federal system (huzzah). states!)
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