Officials overseeing Honolulu’s rail transit project are scrambling to figure out how to fix a new problem with its train tracks.
Lori Kahikina, CEO of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, told members of the HART Board of Directors that the tracks are too close together at five points where they cross each other.
HART officials are trying to determine whether more than five crossings are affected, and what fixes are available.
HART Project Director Nate Meddings says they are investigating several issues.
"Was it designed correctly? Was it manufactured correctly? Was it installed correctly? And, you know, based on all of that, is the maintenance frequency and requirements adequate for these things moving forward? So those are just a few different steps we have leading into what’s the root cause and the fix," Meddings said.
Kahikina says one fix may require new welds to be made to the crossovers, which could cost a couple of thousand dollars each.
The newly-discovered flaws in the tracks are different from a previously-reported problem where the tracks are too wide at the crossovers.
