$1.75M approved to install more seats in rail cars

Board members overseeing Hono­lulu’s elevated rail project approved $1.75 million in spending Thursday to add more seats to each rail car, after private consultants hired by the federal government previously voiced concerns that without more seats people might be reluctant to use the system.

Those dollars, approved by the rail oversight and finance committees, will pay for 800 additional seats — outfitting each two-car train with 96 seats, according to the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, a semiautonomous agency responsible for completing the $5.26 billion rail project.

The added seats will be paid for out of the project’s contingency budget, HART spokes­woman Jeanne Mariani-Belding said.

"We’re building this system for our customers, and they’ve made it clear that they want more seats on our trains," HART Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas said in a statement Thursday after the committees’ approval. "Adding more seating is part of our overall goal of making the transit experience as safe, reliable and comfortable as possible." HART officials say the trains will still have room for luggage, bicycles and surfboards.

A 2011 report by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. pointed out that the two-car trains that Ansaldo Hono­lulu JV bid to produce would hold 318 passengers, but the city planned to provide seats for only 76. That meant up to 242 riders would be required to stand. Jacobs was hired to oversee the project for the federal government, which has agreed to spend $1.55 billion to help complete the driverless system.

In August, HART’s full board gave the tentative nod to Grabauskas’ plan to add 20 more flip-up seats to each train.

The 20-mile, 21-stop line will run from East Kapo­­lei to Ala Moana Center. Officials anticipate its first 10 miles will open for use in 2017, and the whole line will start running in 2019.