The City Council today is expected to cast a fourth and final vote on which technology — steel wheel, rubber tire or magnetic levitation — to use on a planned $3.7 billion rail line linking East Kapolei to Ala Moana.

The train technology question is the last major City Council decision affecting the overall aesthetics, noise and costs of the system, which is expected to open in phases between 2012 and 2018.

A city-appointed expert panel in February recommended steel-wheeled trains. However, some council members continue to push for alternatives such as rubber-tired and magnetically levitated vehicles.

Council chair Barbara Marshall, who represents Windward O'ahu, was expected to miss today's meeting because of a family emergency. The absence of Marshall, who opposes the rail project, is not expected to delay the vote.

"My expectation is that we need to make a decision (today)," said council member Todd Apo, who will fill in as chair for Marshall during today's meeting. "We've had the time, we've had the information, it's our job to make a decision."

The technology debate is driven in part by concerns that steel wheels could cause noise problems for neighbors of the elevated commuter rail. The noise could hurt some property values. Other properties near transit stations could increase in value.

Noise and property value concerns are acute in Salt Lake, where the commuter rail is expected to run down the middle of Salt Lake Boulevard.

On April 3, the council's Committee on Transportation and Public Works voted 4-1 to eliminate rubber-tire and magnetic levitation technology from consideration for the 20-mile transit network. The vote, which followed an eight-hour hearing, reversed a March 19 council decision to continue to evaluate all three technologies.

ALL TYPES UP FOR VOTE

Despite that April 3 decision, the council was expected to once again debate today whether steel-wheel, rubber-tire or maglev technology is best for Honolulu.

Council members Apo, Nestor Garcia, Rod Tam and Gary Okino have favored steel-train technology, while council members Ann Kobayashi and Donovan Dela Cruz have favored rubber-tire technology. Council members Marshall and Charles Djou oppose the rail project outright.

The key vote on the technology could be cast by council member Romy Cachola, who represents the Salt Lake/airport area.

Cachola had previously cast a pivotal vote on the rail project. The Salt Lake route was selected over an airport route because Cachola threatened to vote against the project unless it went through Salt Lake.

Cachola has said he remains undecided about which technology is best for Honolulu. He has asked various train-technology vendors to provide additional cost information during today's hearing.

"I can tell you right now I'm totally open," Cachola told Salt Lake residents during a recent city-sponsored community meeting at Radford High School. "I have not committed myself to any particular technology until such time I hear all the arguments."

POSSIBLE DEADLOCK

With only eight council members attending today's meeting there's a possibility the council could deadlock on the vote. If council members cannot agree on a technology, the advisory panel's recommendation — steel technology — takes effect by default.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann wants the council to settle the technology issue before the city drafts an environmental impact statement and begins preliminary engineering on the transit project. He hopes to break ground on the project in 2009.

Honolulu could decide to evaluate more than one technology during an ongoing environmental impact study. However, that could cause delays, according to Hannemann, who favors steel-wheel technology.

COUNCIL BRIEFED

Twelve vendors have expressed an interest in bidding on the city's estimated $230 million vehicle-sales contract, which won't be awarded until next year. Six of those companies recently presented information about the different technologies to council members. They included steel-technology vendors Bombardier Transportation, Alstom Transport and AnsaldoBreda; monorail (rubber technology) vendor Hitachi; magnetic-levitation vehicle maker Mitsubishi, Itochu; and rubber-tire vehicle maker Advanced Public Transportation Systems.

According to the company presentations: