Utah Olympic Park Sliding Track

The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation (UOLF) of the Utah Olympic Park (UOP) selected ENFRA (previously ETC Group) for evaluating and improving their Sliding Track operating systems to bring their facility back to “world-class levels.” The Sliding Track at Utah Olympic Park is a complex and challenging winter Olympic venue for the sports of Bobsled, Skeleton, and Luge. Originally designed as Official U.S. Olympic Training Sites, the track today serves as a training center for Olympic & Paralympic National Team members and development athletes, hosts numerous local and international competitions, and in addition, offers exhilarating bobsled rides to the general public.  

UOP was having challenges with their ammonia-based refrigeration systems associated with keeping curve #4 of the sliding track at consistent and appropriate temperatures to hold ice on the track as a result of aging systems, challenged design issues, and increasingly varied outside air temperatures. 

ENFRA assessed the refrigerant of the 25-year-old slide track and came up with a design to modernize the track and replace the worn-out and outdated controls. We aimed to equip the track with one of the most technologically advanced sliding track operation systems in the world. To make the system more reliable, replacing it with a new control system to operate the plant with more real-time information was critical. In Phase 1 of the Slide Track Optimization project, the focus was to make the track ready to perform reliably for the 2020 slide track season. This involved focusing on the center track section replacing all the manual and temperature sensors and running fiber for communication.

The primary goal of Phase 2 was to ensure reliable optimal performance of the entire sliding track for the 2021/2022 season and ultimately building towards the 2030 Winter Olympics. Expanding the efforts from the Phase 1, Phase 2 encompassed the entire 1.25-mile track. The project team built upon lessons learned in Phase 1 with the added benefit of trend data and analytics gained from the last season of operation and modifying the sequences of operation. The solutions achieved in Phase 2 made the UOP Track one of the most sophisticated sliding tracks in the world with technologies and control strategies that were never before attempted:

• Temperature and flow sensors reads at each evaporator along the entire track.
• Increased monitoring and analytic capabilities to help maintain uniform “sweet-spot” track temperatures under varying climate conditions.
• Data-driven track maintenance utilizing automated fault detection in place to catch issues before they degrade the quality of the ice.

Athletes competing this year at the Utah Olympic Park are already breaking records in the bobsled and the luge areas with the renovated track. With this globally advanced sliding tracks, Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation and Salt Lake City are ready to host the Winter Olympics as early as 2030.