The Utah Southern Railroad was built by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1871-2 to connect Salt Lake City to points south.
The portion through the Salt Lake Valley is today owned by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and used for the TRAX light rail system, primarily the Blue Line.
The first portion of the line was constructed between Salt Lake City and York (south of Santaquin), and acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) in 1875.
The LA&SL and Utah Southern used different routes between Lynndyl and Salt Lake, resulting in duplicate tracks between those two cities.
The Utah Southern built tracks were routed to Salt Lake via Leamington Canyon of the Sevier River, passing through Nephi, Santaquin and Provo; the newer LA&SL built tracks were routed farther west in the desert, via Tooele and around the north end of the Oquirrh Mountains.
The sales agreement included an option for the UTA to purchase the abandoned right of way over Point of the Mountain and into Utah Valley at a future date.