A Rough Ride on the O‘ahu Rail Transit Project

Abstract

This article covers the long political process that has brought the City and County of Honolulu to the verge of implementing a steel-on-steel rail transit system designed for a corridor that includes about half of the commuters on the island of O‘ahu, Hawaii, and perhaps two-thirds of the workforce. The process has been far from smooth, and has been characterized by factional politics and manipulation of transit supporters who were looking for the best system to implement but were disappointed. The authors discuss what they believe would have been best, a magnetic levitation rail transit system known as the HSST. The article covers a brief history of the HSST, relevant technical aspects of magnetic levitation, and the politics and electioneering of rail in the City and County of Honolulu. Though a large project such as rail will bring jobs to the island, understanding how difficult it is to undertake a large construction project given the lobbies, the vested interests and political leanings must be taken into consideration.