PLEASANT VIEW — FrontRunner commuter rail service to Pleasant View, with the lowest ridership in the Utah Transit Authority system, will indefinitely end in August.
The plans stem from federal rules requiring implementation of increased safety measures on commuter and freight trains and tracks by December. The cost to upgrade trains using the line north of the Ogden FrontRunner station to Pleasant View, owned by Union Pacific Railroad, would be prohibitive, thus officials opted to halt service to Pleasant View instead.
“I think it’s fair to expect people to be disappointed,” Steve Meyer, UTA’s director of capital projects, said Wednesday. “We’re disappointed we haven’t been able to do better there.”
Even so, not a lot of people will be directly impacted. According to UTA officials, just 35 or so southbound passengers use the Pleasant View station each day — the lowest along the FrontRunner system, which extends from Pleasant View south to Provo. Per restrictions in the agreement letting UTA use Union Pacific’s Ogden-Pleasant View track, a sore point for some northern Weber County officials, the FrontRunner makes far fewer stops in Pleasant View compared to other stations.
And the plans to stop service to Pleasant View on Aug. 12 — nearly 10 years after its launch in December 2008 — don’t mark the end of things.
UTA’s long-term plans — officials don’t yet have a specific timeline — call for eventual acquisition of right-of-way so the system can build its own line north of Ogden to Pleasant View, when the commuter rail service would resume, probably with more regular service. Officials are also eyeing acquisition of right-of-way for a new corridor beyond Pleasant View to Brigham City so FrontRunner service can extend north into Box Elder County.
Eddy Cumins, left, the Utah Transit Authority regional general manager in Ogden, briefs the North Ogden City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, on plans to halt FrontRunner service to Pleasant View starting next August. Listening, from left to right, are council members Cheryl Stoker, Phillip Swanson and Sara Fawson.
Meantime, Meyer said UTA officials will investigate alternatives to transport Pleasant View-bound passengers to and from the Ogden FrontRunner station after Pleasant View train service ends, perhaps via increased or revamped bus service.
“I hate to see it happen,” said Toby Mileski, the Northern Utah representative on the UTA Board of Trustees and former mayor of Pleasant View. “Honestly, I understand why.”
Likewise, Pleasant View Mayor Leonard Call said the plans aren’t unexpected, noting the required implementation of Positive Train Control, or PTC, safety measures. PTC measures, which automatically stop or slow a train in certain circumstances, aim to prevent head-on train collisions or problems related to excessive speed, according to the UTA.
UTA will spend $35 million elsewhere along its network to comply with the federal rules.
‘ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS’
UTA officials briefed area officials on the plans at the Pleasant View and North Ogden city council meetings Tuesday night. Finances are a key factor behind the plans to halt the Pleasant View service, Eddy Cumins, UTA’s regional general manager in the Ogden business unit, told North Ogden officials at the meeting there.
Upgrades to the locomotives and cab cars and the Ogden-Pleasant View track to comply with the new federal guidelines would cost $1.4 million, Cumins said. On top of that, UTA would face an additional $285,000 per year in operating and maintenance costs, without being able to increase the frequency of service to Pleasant View to boost ridership.
The news prompted ire among some North Ogden City Council members.
“This is absolutely ridiculous. This is mismanagement and malarkey,” Councilman Phillip Swanson said.
“It is silly,” Councilwoman Sara Fawson said. “We’re paying a lot of tax money for service that we’re not getting.”
Cumins said the sticking point is Union Pacific’s ownership of the Ogden-Pleasant View track segment. “It’s the issue that we don’t own the track,” he said.
With a new track, when built, and an end to restrictions imposed by Union Pacific, the frequency of service to Pleasant View would be able to go up, officials say, boosting ridership. What’s more, when the new line is installed, preliminary plans call for creation of a new FrontRunner stop within Business Depot Ogden, between the existing Ogden station and Pleasant View.
“You get a train to BDO, that’s going to be an economic boon to the county,” Mileski said.
UTA officials plan to conduct surveys, public meetings and more in coming weeks to spread the word about the plans and seek input about ways to transport UTA passengers between Ogden and the Pleasant View area after FrontRunner service ends.
Contact reporter Tim Vandenack at tvandenack@standard.net, follow him on Twitter at @timvandenack or like him on Facebook at Facebook.com/TimVandenackReporter.
