Oahu residents can now see in person a life-size mock-up of the 80 rail cars being designed for the island’s planned transit system.

Rail officials joined Honolulu City Council members to unveil the model Thursday at Kapolei Hale, where it will remain on display during regular business hours through April. The building also will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The train mock-up was required by Ansaldo Honolulu JV’s contract to create and maintain the train system, and it’s meant to serve as a tool to educate and inform the public about the driverless vehicles planned for the elevated rail system, rail officials say.

It was built in Italy and first put on display last summer at a public transit conference in Geneva. The model was shipped from Italy to Hawaii.

Enrico Fontana, project manager for Ansaldo Honolulu JV, did not have details late Thursday on Ansaldo’s costs to build and ship the model.

The model’s interior resembles a small movie theater, where those who enter will encounter a promotional rail video, featuring Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell and other transit officials, produced in-house by rail’s public-outreach employees. The video was produced at no extra cost to rail’s public-involvement budget, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation spokeswoman Jeanne Mariani-Belding said.

The first real train cars for the system are expected to arrive on Oahu in 2016, and the first leg of the system is planned to start running the following year.

The 80 rail cars will be grouped into 20 four-car trains.