The Honolulu Department of Transportation Services announced Monday that Skyline passenger service on two segments of its planned three- segment rail line will shut down for two consecutive weekends.
Skyline’s closure, which begins this weekend, is part of the unification process between rail’s testing segment that runs past the airport, and its currently operating segment from East Kapolei to Halawa, DTS said.
A third segment — from Kalihi to Kakaako — is set to be completed and open to the public by 2031.
Skyline ridership on weekdays, Monday through Friday, will not be affected, according to DTS.
However, there will be no Skyline service on:
>> Saturday, Jan. 11.
>> Sunday, Jan. 12.
>> Saturday, Jan. 18.
>> Sunday, Jan. 19.
All Skyline stations currently in operation will be closed to the public during these affected weekends. The closure is necessary to accommodate critical testing procedures for the fully automatic, driverless trains running on Skyline’s second operating segment, DTS said.
The second operating segment — which consists of 5.2 miles of rail guideway from the Aloha Stadium Station, past the airport, to the Middle Street Transit Center — is being tested in advance of an anticipated public opening by the end of 2025.
Segment 2 of Skyline will add the following stations to the existing system:
>> Makalapa Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam.
>> Lelepaua Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
>> Ahua Lagoon Drive.
>> Kahauiki Middle Street Transit Center.
“The purpose for the shutdown is to allow our contractor, Hitachi, to migrate over control systems so that our new Segment 2, with service to the airport and to Middle Street, can begin to operate under the primary control system,” DTS Director Roger Morton said Monday morning during a news conference at the Halawa Aloha Stadium Skyline Station. “And so that’s a big milestone for us and a big milestone for our community.”
He added, “The public will not be allowed to ride on the trains until we turn over the system, but they’re going to see more activity going on.”
“I want to apologize to our riders for this necessary shutdown,” Morton said. “I know that we are going to be inconveniencing somewhere (between) 2,100 to 2,500 people per day (on Saturdays and Sundays) because of this shutdown.”
Skyline ridership during the weekdays averages 3,700 to 4,100 people per day, according to Morton.
Moreover, the DTS director noted the loss of weekend revenue for the mandatory shutdown would be in “the low thousands of dollars.”
“It’s not really a significant item,” said Morton. “People that continue to use transit (pay) one fare no matter whether they use the bus or rail.”
Still, he said it’s better to do this work “in a planned way than to do it in a sort of a helter- skelter way, and that’s why we’re taking the time to do it right.”
Skyline will reopen with regular weekday operations at 5 a.m. Monday and at 8 a.m. Jan. 20.
But Jan. 20 is a city holiday schedule, due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
For weekend Skyline riders affected by these planned closures, DTS said alternative service on TheBus is available between the following stations:
>> Kualakai East Kapolei and Keoneae University of Hawaii, West Oahu Skyline Station: Routes C, 46, 416, 461.
>> Keoneae UH West Oahu and Hoaeae West Loch Station: Route 40.
>> Hoaeae West Loch Station and Pouhala Waipahu Transit Center Station: Routes 40, 42, E, W1.
>> Pouhala Waipahu Transit Center and Waiawa Pearl Highlands Station: Routes 40, 42.
>> Waiawa Pearl Highlands to Kalauao Pearlridge Station: Routes 40, 42, 51.
>> Kalauao Pearlridge to Halawa Aloha Stadium Station: Routes A, 32, 40, 42, 51.
Waiawa Pearl Highlands Skyline Station will have normal weekend TheBus service including Routes 531, 532, 533 and 535 so riders can access Pearl Highlands Center and the surrounding neighborhood, DTS said.
There is no connecting TheBus service at Honouliuli Hoopili and Halaulani Leeward Community College Skyline stations.
Station operators will be at each station to help riders with connections to TheBus routes and wayfinding, DTS said.
At Halawa Station one Skyline rider, Kaili Swan, was concerned over the loss of train service during the shutdown process.
“I’m a weekday commuter and a weekend commuter,” Swan, a custodian at James Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser. “I ride the Skyline every day.”
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation said Segment 2’s opening will occur at the end of the year.
The airport segment’s opening date was previously scheduled — albeit two years ago — for mid-2025.
At the news conference, HART Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina said the end-of-the-year deadline to open is set. “We still have a lot of work to do,” she added.
Meanwhile, Kahikina would not comment on Hitachi Rail Honolulu JV’s more than $324.1 million lawsuit filed in 1st Circuit Court against the city and HART on Dec. 20.
Famous for Japan’s iconic high-speed bullet train, Hitachi was hired by HART in 2011 on a $1.4 billion contract.
In return the company was to design, build, operate and maintain the city’s cutting-edge fleet of electric trains, expected to run along the 18.75-mile elevated guideway system to 19 stations.
However, Hitachi’s lawsuit alleges HART’s seeming dysfunction to set timely schedules caused cost increases to go off the tracks by tens of millions of dollars — expenses the train company says it’s been forced to solely absorb.
When asked why she would not comment on Hitachi’s complaint, Kahikina said, “It’s a lawsuit. We don’t talk about lawsuits.”
For more information on Skyline, visit honolulu.gov/skyline. For further information on TheBus routes, visit thebus.org.
