As a light-rail vehicle maintenance worker, Todd has obtained clearance to operate TRAX cars in the yard. After one is cleaned, it will be moved through a train-size wash, then parked in the yard according to next-day departure times. On an average night, Todd says the person in his position will walk about 15 miles. He checked it with a pedometer one night.

"It helps keep you in shape," Todd said.

As he pulls a car out of the wash and into the yard, Todd talks about his time as an operator. He was in an accident where a man made an illegal turn in front of his train. The motorist survived.

"It still hits you hard, you do everything you can to avoid it," Todd said. "You can only imagine it. The guy should be doing commercials for Toyota."

12:30 a.m., half done

The night's cleaning and washing is more than halfway finished. Inside the service center, most of the workers are stopping for a morning lunch break. Shane Gunderson finishes what's called a "daily check" on one of the TRAX cars.

"This inspection is really basic," said Gunderson, an electromechanic. "We only have 10 minutes to do it."

Each night, all the TRAX cars that will be used the next day receive a daily check. It's a basic inventory of all the car's parts: lighting, seat covers, mirrors, brakes, mileage, bells and gongs. If something is malfunctioning or broken, the person in Gunderson's position will make note of the failure and tell another electromechanic assigned to do fixes in the yard.

"We've got to get it washed, got to get it out of the way," Gunderson said.

He moves quickly through the TRAX car, checking seat covers for tears. Near the front of the car, where the operator sits, Gunderson takes off a panel to check the car's mileage. Most of UTA's cars have about 400,000 miles on them, Gunderson said.

The cars have a 30-year life span.

After checking the inside, Gunderson moves outside. He turns on the train's lights, then opens each of the doors to see if they work properly. Next, he checks the car's couplers, a device that connects the trains together.

"This is what being an electromechanic is all about," said Gunderson. "It's about making sure the trains work."

UTA requires its electromechanics to understand all types of maintenance.

"The people that maintain our vehicles have to realize there are 10,000 ways a train could be stopped because of a component," said Price, rail-vehicle maintenance manager. "Attention to detail is kind of our mantra here, and we try to make sure we don't miss things so it doesn't affect people who ride our system."

2 a.m., the pace slows

Work inside the TRAX service center has eased to a slower pace. Outside on the rail line a different type of repair and maintenance is being done. Daniel Miller, a line and signal technician, is replacing copper hangers that hold together the electrical wires that power TRAX.