Four youths who scaled the fence to get on the platform of the city’s new Halawa (Aloha Stadium) rail station didn’t steal, vandalize or paint graffiti on the walls.

From closed-circuit television camera surveillance footage of the Aug. 2 incident, it appeared the three females and one male, possibly in their teens or 20s, were just checking things out, walking along the platform, sitting on the benches and looking over the rail.

But then they got on the tracks, and that could have cost them their lives, said the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation in a news release Thursday with photographs and a video of the incident.

The “recent break-in could have resulted in death,” HART said, warning the public about the “third rail,” a track energized with up to 750 volts of electricity that powers the train. The track is live when tests are being conducted, which can happen at all hours, day and night.

“One touch of that third rail, it’s instant electrocution and death,” said HART interim Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina.

Kahikina said she is not interested in prosecuting the youths, but wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“We’re not trying to catch these kids,” Kahikina said. “It was alarming to me that they were able to get near the track.”

The third rail is under gray safety cover plates along the tracks, clearly marked on yellow strips with bold black lettering: “Danger High Voltage.”

The planned 20-mile elevated guideway, estimated now to cost $12.449 billion, will be the nation’s first fully automated driverless light metro train system.

The trains travel at a top speed of 55 mph, which is why a high current must be used to transfer adequate power to them, Kahikina said.

People can walk on train tracks in other locales without fear of electrocution if the trains that travel on them don’t run on electricity or if the electrical lines that power them run overhead.

But this is not the case on Oahu, since the tracks and electrical lines are located on the elevated guideway.

The other current potential danger is that contractor Hitachi Hitachi Rail Honolulu is not just energizing the third rail, but is running trains from the Kualakai Station in East Kapolei to the Halawa Station day and night.

They might start and stop suddenly or switch direction, making the rail yard and the operating guideway dangerous for anyone without rigorous safety training and proper authorization.

The one male and three female trespassers wore masks and seemed to be aware of the cameras as they walked around the platform area.

Hitachi monitors the closed-circuit TV cameras along the track, and within four minutes of the group entering the site at 9:42 p.m. Aug. 2, it triggered an alarm, alerting police.

The group got onto the tracks by walking to the end of the platform and hopping over the end gates, Manahan said.

The group spent 15 to 20 minutes on the guideway, and by the time police arrived, they were gone, Kahikina said.

Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said no citations or arrests were made, and police are working with HART to determine what action can be taken.

She did not respond to questions of what possible offenses members of the group can be charged with.

Nan Inc. is in charge of security at the stations and has made adjustments with roving security guards.

Kahikina said, “We’re not interested in prosecuting or finding them.”

HART officials just want to prevent injury or death.

“We were lucky this time,” said Joey Manahan, HART’s director of government relations and public involvement.