A federally mandated rail safety plan identifying the city Department of Transportation Services as the final responsible party for the coming rail system has rolled toward official approval.
The Honolulu City Council last week voted unanimously to adopt the plan, which has the city’s transit agency providing oversight of the operations, maintenance and safety of the nearly $10 billion rapid transit system still under construction.
As approved, the rail plan “serves as a guiding document describing the various safety-related roles and responsibilities, system safety activities, the processes for identifying and managing the potential system hazards, and a means for managing the system safety for the operating rail system.”
During Wednesday’s Council meeting, DTS Director Roger Morton said the rail plan “sets up a mechanism that promotes a safety culture within the rail system.” It features safety committees and includes “our unionized partners on the rail side.”
With regard to unsafe incidents within the rail system, Morton added the plan requires the city to report all incidents on a monthly basis to a federal database.
“That’s public information,” he said. “It’s available for everybody.”
At prior Council meetings, Morton detailed how DTS will pay Hitachi Rail $52 million for operation and maintenance, and roughly $96.7 million when all related costs are allocated. Those costs include security, energy, elevator and escalator maintenance, fare collection, software and hardware, station and grounds maintenance, compliance oversight, consultant support, parts and other services, as well as city staff.
In terms of security, Morton noted that roughly 2,000 security cameras connected to “a sophisticated security monitoring system” will be installed aboard trains and at stations, transit centers and park-and-ride lots.
Other security measures include roving Hitachi employees, city-hired security guards who will circulate throughout the rail system, and Honolulu Police Department officers who will respond as needed to incidents aboard trains.
According to Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina, the rail’s first segment — from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium with Hitachi-built, four-car driverless trains — will open in July. The full build-out of the 18.75-mile, 19-station line is scheduled for completion by 2031, HART says.
On a related item at Wednesday’s Council meeting, members voted unanimously to see HART and the city jointly prepare a study to reevaluate the use of a planned parking garage for the rail station at Waiawa Pearl Highlands near Kamehameha Highway and close to the H-1 and H-2 freeways.
Construction of the parking garage was halted last year, in part because of its estimated $330 million cost.
During public comment, Choon James, a former Honolulu mayoral candidate, questioned the need and costs to conduct the study.
“This rail project has been the biggest project in the history of Hawaii and it’s been fraught with a lot of problems, fiascoes and on and on,” James said. “Again, this is an example of a very disconcerting and costly issue here.”
She added having a new study of an abandoned parking garage made no sense.
“It just keeps going on and on and on,” James said. “So what are we going to have? Hire a $500,000-a-year consultant to do it, and in turn they hire another consultant below them for another $500,000? So we really need to consider the sunken costs of this project.”
Later, Morton said the study of the unused parking garage initially started under another city agency, the Department of Land Management. “But we’ve pretty much taken over the study and we’re going to try to do this in a good-faith effort,” he added. “We recognize the issues that are there with the removal of the garage.”
In addition, Morton said the study may consider either installing a temporary crossing or a pedestrian bridge at the rail station and “look for alternatives for the parking issue.”
Prior to the vote, Council member Val Okimoto, whose district covers the area in question, wanted to know the study’s goals and timeline, and wanted assurances that if undertaken, it “not waste time and resources.”
In response, Morton said the study also may look at roadway and pedestrian safety improvements, determine improved bus routes and possibly see developers build housing projects in the area, which is plagued by heavy traffic.
“We’re looking at alternative locations for park-and-rides as options,” he added, noting “there’s no obvious solution; they’re all what we can do with the station the way it is now.”
Although vague on the timeline to complete the study, Morton asserted the city was committed to “working with the community” to offer future, better options for the site.
