SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Transit Authority is about to go much bigger with its new FrontRunner commuter train service -- which will run between the Ogden area and Salt Lake City. As a result, it wants riders to be much safer.
UTA is training new police officers to patrol the trains, which begin operation on April 26. FrontRunner will travel more than 40 miles between Weber County and downtown Salt Lake City at speeds near 80 miles per hour.
This week, UTA announced that it is boosting its officer corps by 60 percent -- from 22 officers to 37 -- in an effort to accommodate the new operation.
UTA's police officers will patrol the commuter trains, educate riders about safety and check tickets. Senior officers have been training the new authorities for the past few weeks.
"We are adding 44 miles of track that we need security and a police presence on," said UTA spokesperson Carrie Bohnsack-Ware. "So we are expanding to accommodate the FrontRunner track."
UTA said the new police officers will begin patrolling its TRAX light rail trains and eventually move to other transportation modes, like FrontRunner and buses, to be completely versatile for the authority's needs.
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