Moments of celebration for rail come along infrequently enough, and Friday was certainly one of those: The Federal Transit Administration approved the recovery plan toward funding the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation rail project. This frees the remaining $744 million in subsidy for construction on an officially shortened route.

HART is hoping to receive the first tranche of funds soon — there are still T’s to cross and I’s to dot — but having it within fairly easy reach is a good thing.