Utah Transit Authority (UTA) won the prestigious Rail Transit Team Achievement Award at the 23rd annual American Public Transportation Association (APTA) International Rail Rodeo held June 17 to 21 in conjunction with the 2015 APTA Rail Conference in Salt Lake City. The Rail Transit Team Achievement Award is given to the system with the highest rail operator and maintainer team combined score. The winning team members were Jody Fairbourn, Richard Klein, Logan Packer, Joann Sloan and David Wright.

"This competition was a great display of the skills our rail operators and maintainers employ every day to keep America's rail cars well maintained and operated with safety in mind," said APTA President/CEO Michael Melaniphy. "I applaud all of this year's winners for being the very best of the best."

The Operators' Competition measures professional skills, including train operation, knowledge of safety regulations, train equipment, and track right-of-way rules and procedures. Ricky Church and Victoria Jenkins, on behalf of Va.’s Hampton Roads Transit, won first place in the Operators' Competition while Logan Packer and JoAnne Sloan of UTA placed second. The team of Anthony Atkinson and Joseph Lynch from Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority took third-place honors.

The Maintainers' Competition judges the ability to troubleshoot maintenance problems. Oakland, Calif.’s BART team of Gary Crandell, Edward Christian and Dan Parris repeated their win from last year in this category. Philadelphia’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority team of Gary Geyer, Cameron Massaro and Dan Compton also repeated their second place finish from last year. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority maintainer team of Ezequiel Garcia, Marcos Martinez and Jose L. Padilla won third place.

The APTA International Rail Rodeo Competition is designed to encourage excellence and professionalism in rail transit operations. The competition was held June 17 to 21 at the UTA's Jordan River Rail Service Center.