Following the first anniversary of Skyline, the Honolulu rail's second leg is scheduled to open in late 2025. Skyline's next segment will go from Hālawa to the Middle Street Transit Center.
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation plans to hand over that segment to the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services before the end of 2025.
"We electrified the third rail on June 17, and so what you'll start to see is, I'm hoping within the next two to three weeks, a train will be pulled out, so past the stadium heading towards Middle Street at about 3 miles per hour, and then Hitachi can start that year-long process of testing and commissioning like we did on segment one," said HART CEO and Executive Director Lori Kahikina.
Due to the testing and construction of the new segment, the operational segment from East Kapolei to Hālawa will have to shut down for a period, she said.
"We're in discussions with DTS, maybe we can minimize it to four weeks, shut down segment one, make sure everything is tested and running correctly, and then bring one and two up simultaneously. So that's yet to be discussed between HART, DTS and Hitachi."
Kahikina also acknowledged that the HART board's decision Friday to extend her contract was encouraging, though the details have to be hammered out over the next month or so.
"It's a step in the right direction, but we still have negotiations to go through," she said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 1, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
