Honolulu goes from Go Rail to Stop Rail to Try Wait Rail

Railroad tracks keep you on track.

Trains follow the railroad’s rail path.

The train goes south because the train tracks go south; the train doesn’t go west some of the time and east some of the time before resuming a journey south.

That bit of restatement of the obvious is to say the city’s rail plan has gone not just off budget and into overtime, but is so far into the weeds that it will need a whole new train track to find its way back.

On June 14, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell was on morning television praising his plans for rail, adding, “It is important that we stay the course; it is easy to cut and run.”

Two days later, Caldwell appeared before the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation to say while he wanted rail to go to Ala Moana and would work for a rail to Ala Moana, there was only money to go to Middle Street and that was where we were going.

And now, Caldwell says not only do we not have enough money to build the rail system, he doesn’t have enough time to come up with a plan that the Federal Transit Administration would bless by its Aug. 7 deadline. Caldwell is asking the FTA if he can take up to 10 months to figure out what to do next.

So Honolulu went from Go Rail, to Stop Rail to Try Wait Rail.

Asked about the changes, one of Caldwell’s opponents, former U.S. Rep. Charles Djou, dubbed it “simply irresponsible.”

“The Honolulu rail transit program has become one of the most over-budget, behind-schedule and mismanaged projects in American history,” said Djou.

The deadline extension Caldwell wants is for a “recovery plan” explaining to the federal government why the rail project is so off target and how the city will fix it. Over 25 years, the FTA has put up money 90 times for what is called Full Funding Grant Agreements. Only 10 have required recovery plans.

Djou is consistent in saying he won’t spend any more money for a rail system, but is not offering one specific solution.

In an interview this week, Djou suggested exploring transferring the system to the one suggested by former Mayor Jeremy Harris — BRT or bus rapid transit — although in 2004 when the city was exploring a BRT system, Djou, then a City Councilman, was critical of the plan.

Former Mayor Peter Carlisle, who is also running to replace Caldwell, joins Djou in questioning Caldwell’s call for a 10-month timeout.

The delay just means the public won’t know Caldwell’s plans until after the election.

“Why are you doing it? Saying you want to make sure it (the FTA response) is after the election?” Carlisle asked in an interview. “I can’t come up with any sensible reason except politics.”

Carlisle is now recommending “lay the guideway and run it as far as you possibly can and do the bells and whistles later. Finish what you started with what money is available, and then go get new sources of funding.”

It was former Mayor Mufi Hannemann who convinced the state Legislature to authorize raising the general excise tax on Oahu for the original funding. In his MidWeek column this week, he urged Caldwell to go back to the feds to ask for more money, arguing that they usually pay for one-third of the project — and now that costs are growing from $3 billion to up to $10 billion, the feds should raise their calculation of what one-third means. Caldwell, Hannemann’s protege, has also suggested that.

Actually, what the feds need to understand is the local saying: “If can, can; if no can, no can.”

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.