The city is considering a batch of engineering changes to the $5.17 billion Honolulu rail project, including a proposal to reduce the size of the stations and the length of the trains that would operate on the elevated rail system.
Toru Hamayasu, interim executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, said city staffers are still reviewing the "value engineering" proposals, including a plan to create a turnaround facility for trains near Leeward Community College.
Hamayasu emphasized that no final decisions have been made, but "there is a continuing review of the costs, and the engineering elements where we can save costs," he said. "We’re constantly looking at ways to save money."
The most noticeable impact could come from the proposal to reduce the length of the trains.
At least until 2029, the city plans to operate two-car trains, with each car able to hold up to 159 people seated and standing. Sometime after 2029, the city plans to shift from two-car trains to four-car trains to accommodate more riders.
The length of the trains affects the design of the stations. Each car will be 64 feet long, and current plans call for the stations to be about 240 feet long.
But the city may also opt to go with three cars to a train instead of four.
If the city shifts to a three-car configuration, planners could shrink the station platforms to about 180 feet, Hamayasu said. "If we can provide the same capacity with three cars, then we can shorten the platform and save some costs," he said.
The city’s plan to build an elevated, concrete guideway with 21 overhead stations has drawn considerable criticism from groups such as The Outdoor Circle and the American Institute of Architects Honolulu.
Those groups warn the 20-mile-long overhead guideway will alter the look of the Honolulu landscape. Bob Loy, director of environmental programs for The Outdoor Circle, said the new proposal to reduce the size of the stations won’t make much difference.
"Anything that reduces the size of the massive transit stations is going to benefit anybody that has to look at them, but a minor scale-back in size would not be a substantial benefit in the scheme of things," Loy said. "Smaller stations, yes, that would be a good thing, but it would be an even better thing if the entire elevated guideway went away."
Hamayasu said the proposal to build smaller stations is about saving money, not aesthetics.
It isn’t clear yet how much the city could save by reducing the size of the trains and stations, and design work has already begun on stations for West Loch, the Waipahu Transit Center and Leeward Community College.
The city would likely need to execute a change order to design smaller stations at those sites, and the cost of the change order and a variety of other factors needs to be weighed against potential savings from smaller stations, Hamayasu said.
Another issue is whether three-car trains can provide the same level of service to riders. To obtain the same capacity, the city would need to run the trains more frequently, Hamayasu said.
"Now we’re looking at that to see, is that really going to cost less?" he said.
Another idea planners are considering is to create a turnaround near Leeward Community College. That would allow some trains to shuttle back and forth more frequently on a shorter run between urban Honolulu and the college, while other trains would make the entire 20-mile run from Ala Moana Center to Kapolei.
That could provide more frequent service in the most heavily developed areas of Honolulu. It could also make the system more efficient by allowing some trains to turn back before reaching undeveloped areas west of the Leeward college campus, Hamayasu said.
That increased efficiency might allow the city to get by with fewer train cars for some additional savings, Hamayasu said. The city signed a contract with Ansaldo Honolulu JV last week to purchase 80 cars, but Hamayasu said a turnaround at Leeward Community College might allow the city to get by with perhaps four fewer cars.
The city is also weighing a proposal to delay construction of elements of some rail stations planned for rural Leeward Oahu. Those stations probably would see little use in the early years of the project because few people live in those areas.
"If the area is not going to be developed by the year 2019, why construct a fully furnished station?" Hamayasu said. "Since the expected use is not significant, we can perhaps leave it as the basic station rather than the fully furnished station."
Under that proposal, the city would delay some construction components such as some escalators until later years, which would reduce the need for the city to borrow money in the earlier years of the project. That might allow the city to save on interest and other borrowing costs.
The potential downside to that idea is that delays in construction could result in higher building costs later if the price of labor or materials increases.
"We’re evaluating that to see," Hamayasu said.
