Federal transportation officials have signed off on the city’s updated rail plan to shorten the route by two stations and end construction in Kakaako, which makes the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation eligible for a remaining $744 million in federal funding.

The rail project has not received any federal funding since 2017.

At a news conference Friday following approval by the Federal Transit Administration of what HART calls its “recovery plan,” Mayor Rick Blangiardi said it was “both a joyous and historic day for us.”

FTA officials had “lost credibility” in the project and were clear that “we needed to have a show of unity,” Blangiardi said.

He praised and thanked HART CEO and Executive Director Lori Kahikina and her team for the leadership they’ve shown, especially compared with January 2021 when Kahikina took over.

“It was a very difficult time,” Blangiardi said. “It could not have been at a lower point.”

With a $3.5 billion budget deficit and no plan to fill it, the city scrambled for a way to finish the project.

As envisioned in 2012, the rail system would span a 20-mile, 21-station route from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center, Hawaii’s largest transit hub.

Instead, the FTA has agreed with HART’s new plan for only 19 stations and 18.75 miles of track sitting atop an overhead “guideway.” Funding relies on a new city hotel room tax.

The end-of-the-line stop now is in Kakaako at Halekauwila and South streets.

The revised plan also eliminated a proposed 1,600-stall garage at the Pearl Highlands station, saving $330 million.

“We still have a long way to go, but this is an important step that recognizes the work HART and the city have done to provide more accountability and get this project back on track,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. “I will continue to work with our federal and state partners to make sure that we complete this project for the people of Honolulu,” he said in a statement.

Kahikina and other HART officials spent months going over the details of their latest plan with the FTA. Ultimately, HART board Chair Colleen Hanabusa said the FTA approved a “no change” recovery plan.

The FTA’s approval means that HART will receive $125 million in federal funding and an additional $250 million when HART awards a contract for the final stretch of track and station in Kakaako at the so-called Civic Center station, scheduled for 2024.

“We have enough funding to get to Civic Center,” Kahikina said.

But Blangiardi and some HART board members insist that Ala Moana Center remains an eventual goal. And Blangiardi said he has not given up on building rail “someday” to the University of Hawaii, his alma mater, “well beyond my lifetime,” and even adding more stations “deeper in Kapolei.”

The recovery plan approved by the FTA, however, does not include federal money to build beyond Kakaako, Kahikina said, so future construction will rely on new sources of funding.

Local funding to finish the current phase received a badly needed infusion of cash when the city in 2021 created a 3% city hotel tax — aimed largely at tourists — to be split among the city’s general fund, rail and to support parks, beaches and other natural resources affected by tourism.

The proposed 3% city transient accommodations tax would be in addition to the state’s existing 10.25% hotel tax.

The Honolulu tax applies to gross rental proceeds from accommodations including vacation rentals, hotels and timeshares. It also applies to noncommission accommodation brokers, travel agencies and tour packagers.

For HART and the city, the FTA’s approval was welcomed at yet another time of uncertainty.

Engineers continue to study the severity of hairline cracks discovered in 2018 that have since grown in both length and width. The damage was discovered on pillars that hold up the rail system’s overhead tracks.

The fix — if any — could delay the launch of paid ridership expected in early 2023.

Five rail stations on the West side of Oahu are affected, with 11 to 12 pillars — or “hammer heads” — involved.

Kahikina expects an update next week.

At the same time, HART is undergoing safety certification of 144 different operational and emergency scenarios.

The “system is being tested through the trial running process and must meet a 98.5 percent system availability over a 30-day running average period before HART can turn the system over to the Department of Transportation Services,” Kahi­kina told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement last week, although it’s unclear precisely what the term “availability” means. “Safety is paramount and we are not going to rush the process. If it takes us longer to achieve the 98.5 percent availability, so be it. It is typical to encounter technical issues when starting up a brand new system and we need to address each issue before we enter into the system availability phase.”

Last week the evaluation required first-responder scenarios that involved a hypothetical shooting and a train crash that included Kahikina posing as an unconscious rail passenger lying on concrete.

Asked by the Star-Advertiser whether there were any obvious shortcomings, Kahikina joked:

“I think they took too long to find me.”