UTA takes over former U.P. depot

After years of hearing about commuter rail, residents now have a tangible sign that it is going to happen.

Wednesday morning, officials with the Utah Transit Authority pulled the tarp off the new UTA sign that crowns the former Union Pacific maintenance depot near 800 North and Beck Street. The move was also a gesture that commuter rail has started to cross the barrier from plans on paper into reality.

The move comes about a week after UTA officials closed a deal with Union Pacific giving official ownership of the 250,000-square-foot facility to UTA.

"It was the largest locomotive facility in the world when it was built in 1952," said UTA director of transit development Mike Allegra, who compared the facility to the Delta Center in terms of size.

Union Pacific threw in the facility when it sold 175 miles of right of way to UTA for the commuter-rail system in a $185 million deal last year.

Allegra said the maintenance facility is a huge asset for commuter rail, saving UTA almost $20 million in having to build a new facility. Commuter rail may cost as much as $450 million.

"This will be the heart of the commuter-rail system," Allegra said. The facility will house maintenance for all commuter trains, from Payson to Brigham City, as well as serve as the system's dispatch center.

The facility is in surprisingly good condition for being vacant for about four years, Allegra said. The delay in change of ownership was mainly due to environmental studies done on the groundwater and soil at the facility to check for possible contamination. Allegra said all tests gave the facility a clean bill of health.

"It does need a new roof," Allegra said. "We will redo the office space and install a new heating system," but overall work is minimal and cosmetic.

The fact that UTA has acquired a facility such as this, Allegra said, will give the commuter-rail project a real boost. "Finding the site for an operation facility is probably the most difficult thing to do," he said. "Having one in place, on site and operational is a huge benefit to the community."

UTA plans to have a commuter-rail line between Weber and Salt Lake counties by 2007.

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E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com