Skyline is now the official name for Honolulu’s rail system which opens its first segment to the public in West Oahu at the end of June.

City officials say they hope the name, Skyline, will be a fresh start for the nearly $10 billion project that has crossed four mayoral administrations, was long overdue and over-budget, and does not, as originally envisioned, run to Ala Moana Shopping Center or the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

According to the city’s Department of Transportation Services Deputy Director Jon Nouchi, the city’s rail line never had an official name.

“Other than what our Federal Transit Administration partners officially recognized as the ‘Honolulu High Capacity Transit Corridor Project,’ and I think everybody just calls it rail,” Nouchi said, during a news conference at Honolulu Hale this morning.

He added finding the name Skyline — a reference, in part, to the expansive view planes riders aboard the city’s elevated train system will see along the West Oahu corridor — was a five-year effort that involved hundreds of possible names for the system and feedback from many focus groups. City officials said the Native Hawaiian community was also consulted.

To help find the right name, Honolulu also looked to the names of existing rail systems found elsewhere in the country including BART in San Francisco, DART in Dallas and the Metro in Washington, D.C.

Here at home, Nouchi said other possible names like TheTrain, Hoku, Moku, Kui, Ilima, and even Rail were toyed with but eventually discarded.

“Skyline,” Nouchi added, “this name just fits, and feels right to us.”

The branding of the Skyline is also expected to feature the artistic likeness of the city’s official bird — the manu-o-Ku, or white fairy tern — around the rail system including having the image of the once-endangered bird imprinted on what riders will have to use to access Skyline, the HOLO card.

On May 10, Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced that the first 11-mile phase of the city’s rail line — from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium — will officially begin interim passenger operations at 2 p.m. June 30, with a grand opening celebration at the Halawa rail station that will feature dignitaries and entertainment slated for earlier in the day, the city says.