Keeping TRAX up, running takes 'round-the-clock care

MIDVALE — It's quiet in the hour before dawn. Some work continues, but most employees have left for the day.

In the silence of the early morning, there is little to do but wait: wait for the first operator to come in, the first train to leave for the day, the first passenger to board.

At the Lovendahl Rail Services Center in Midvale, lulls like this are infrequent and short-lived. Keeping the Utah Transit Authority's TRAX trains operational is a job that requires constant maintenance and watch.

"We are here seven days a week, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day," said Jim Price, UTA manager of rail-vehicle maintenance.

Daytime work is limited, however, to about 10 mechanics. The cavernous building that houses the trains is mostly empty. Night is when the activity begins: the cleaning and maintenance and heavy lifting.

Minutes after midnight

It's one of those nights when the winds are still and the moon is full. There's the noise of water spraying, the click of tools and the radio, which is playing "As I Lay Me Down" by Sophie B. Hawkins.

Most of the TRAX cars have been pulled to the front of the service center, where workers will clean them, perform operational checks, then arrange the cars according to next-day departure times. The train yard is near empty.

"When everything comes off the line, that's an opportunity for us to work," said Price. "This is the busy part of our day. This is when we are fully staffed."

Because it's a wash night, Thursday, the schedule for cleaning and maintenance is more fast-paced. Also, because the University of Utah football team is playing the next day, eight additional TRAX cars will be needed to carry fans. Tonight, workers will inspect and clean 38 cars; the next night they'll do 47.

On this particular Thursday, 28 people are on hand for maintenance and cleanup work, including Jodi Swafford, a rail-service employee. Swafford is helping to clean the TRAX cars: vacuuming stair wells, mopping the floor, washing the windows.

"You'll find anything from shoes and socks to clothes and things we'd not like to talk about," Swafford said.

This night she's working with Tommy Todd, a former TRAX operator. Working the night shift means less stress for the same pay, according to Todd.

"The greatest stress is 'Where do you go to lunch?' " he said.