Transit Panel Recommends Rail For Oahu

HONOLULU -- A city panel on Friday recommended steel wheels on rail technology for Oahu's planned mass transit system.

The recommendation now goes to the Honolulu City Council. The council members will begin meeting on Thursday. They will make a final decision by April 16.

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Official City Transit Project Site

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The panel had four options to choose from. Besides the steel wheels on rail, there was rubber tires on concrete, a monorail or magnetic levitation. The choice must be made before an environmental impact statement can be completed.

Four of the five members of the panel recommended the rail. One member of the panel, University of Hawaii engineering professor Panos Prevedourous, disagreed with the decision. He recommended managed lanes.

"One characteristic of steel wheel and steel rail is its inflexiblity. It is a very fixed system, and in the way we design it, it is not going to provide express trains, and therefore it is going to be a very slow service," Prevedourous said.

The steel wheels on rail is the same technology used in cities such as Phoenix, Ariz.; Houston, Texas; Toronto, Canada; and similar to the BART system in San Francisco.

"It will provide the best ride opportunity, or ride quality. For people who use the system, it has the best long-term cost profile for the community. In other words, it cost less to maintain and operate over the long run," technology panel chairman Rob Tober said.

The council narrowly approved a route for a proposed fixed-guideway mass transit that would go through Salt Lake Boulevard and bypass the Honolulu International Airport. The vote was 5-4.

The city said the system that will run from Kapolei to Ala Moana will cost $3.7 billion.

Construction could begin as early as 2009.