The Utah Transit Authority on Wednesday unveiled its plans to dress up its upcoming commuter rail system with a bold design and slick name: "FrontRunner."
The design concept is far different from TRAX, Salt Lake County's light-rail system. Smooth lines, curves, and solid reds and blues have replaced the mostly white design of the boxy TRAX cars. All is meant to suggest movement and speed, something sleek and new.
"FrontRunner really connotes what this system will do," said UTA general manager John Inglish, after the name was greeted by cheers from employees and members of the UTA Board of Trustees.
Unlike TRAX, which runs exclusively in Salt Lake County, FrontRunner is projected to someday run 120 miles from Brigham City to Payson. Construction began last fall on the 44-mile first segment of the line, from Weber County to Salt Lake City, which is anticipated to open in early 2008. The trains will reach speeds up to 79 mph.
Andrea Packer, UTA director of marketing/public relations said the name was selected by a group of engineers and marketing professionals, who held several brainstorming sessions. The goal was to choose a name that was different from TRAX and allowed for continued branding of the UTA name, Packer said.
"One thing that was really important was to keep the UTA identity," she said. "We've learned our lesson from TRAX. People didn't realize that TRAX was UTA."
Names that were joked about and rejected include Wasatch Area Rapid Transit and Salt Lake Urban Transit, which translated into un-tasteful acronyms, said Packer. A name similar to Portland's MAX (Metropolitan Area Express) light rail system was also rejected.
But regular UTA riders said Wednesday that they would have preferred an acronym, similar to TRAX.
"I just don't think it works as well," said Jesus Millano, a Salt Lake City resident and regular TRAX rider. "You can't say, 'Let's go catch the FrontRunner.' "
TRAX regular Willie Allover called the commuter-rail name "corny."
Residents did, however, have a favorable opinion of the paint scheme planned for commuter rail trains. The paint resembles the design of the new "circulator" buses UTA began running downtown last year.
Construction of the commuter-rail segment from Weber County to Salt Lake City is about 20 percent complete. This summer, crews will begin laying rail.
For more information about UTA's commuter rail system, log on to www.rideuta.com.
E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com