TRAX 'testing' | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

For casual observers who don't live close to the newly constructed Sandy-Draper TRAX line, I should advise you now that you're missing a real treat.

The line is set to officially open and welcome passengers Aug. 18, but what you've missed so far is the round-the-clock operation of the line for basically the entire summer — sans passengers, of course. Yes, and the UTA representative I talked to told me that maybe it was some federal requirement that the line be thoroughly "tested" in this way for this period of time.

What? It's a rail system, for goodness sake. It's not like the route is going to change, the stops will be intermittently varied or the machines will run differently from one day to the next. I'm sure I'm very naive when it comes to the particulars of "rapid transit," but I would think that maybe one or two days of operation would accomplish all the "testing" that would be needed for such a system. So far, all I can see being "tested" is the patience of citizens and taxpayers.

I never cease to be astounded at what we tolerate from our monopolies.

T. J. "Joe" Taylor

Sandy