Council to revisit type of transit
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
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A City Council committee will vote again this week on which technology — steel wheel, rubber tire or magnetic levitation — Honolulu should use for its planned $3.7 billion rail line linking East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.
The Committee on Transportation and Public Works already voted once on Feb. 28 for steel-wheel trains, but the full council decided on March 19 to reconsider the decision.
The decision to re-evaluate technologies follows concern that steel wheels could cause noise problems for neighbors of the elevated commuter rail and possibly hurt property values.
A city-appointed expert panel in February recommended Honolulu stick with reliable, nonproprietary, steel technology. However, some council members now want to consider the more modern, proprietary alternatives of rubber-tired vehicles on concrete and magnetically levitated trains.
"The (expert-appointed panel) just felt that rail has been around for years and that it's a proven technology and that we should use it," said Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who favors rubber-tire technology. "If that's the case, we'd still be using propeller planes instead of trying out (Boeing) 747s.
"We have to look at new technologies."
There's little difference in the cost of the three technologies, according to nonbinding proposals solicited from vehicle vendors.
Twelve vendors from Japan, Europe, Canada and the United States have expressed an interest in bidding on the city's estimated $230 million vehicle-sales contract, which won't be awarded until next year. That group includes five steel-wheel vendors, four rubber-tire vendors and one maglev vendor.
The risks of buying proprietary-transit technologies — rubber or maglev — are not offset by any major cost savings, said Toru Hamayasu, chief of the city's transportation planning division.
"There was a good chance we thought they (proprietary vehicle vendors) might come in with a really attractive price knowing they need a foot in the door," he said. However, "When you compare the cost per passenger, they all come out about the same. That took away the attractiveness of buying something exotic."
Part of the problem of deciding which technology is cheaper stems from differences in upfront costs, ongoing operating and maintenance costs and elevated-guideway construction costs among the various vehicle technologies.
Here's how the city's five-member technology advisory panel recently ranked the cost of different technologies:
The panel's other two members had no ranking of costs.
Lacking conclusive cost information panelists recommended the city choose steel technology, which would attract the greatest number of bidders. Fewer vendors for rubber and maglev technologies would mean less competition and potentially higher costs, according to the panel.
Rubber-tire and maglev vehicle producers contend their technology is better than steel-wheel technology in other areas.
For example, vendors for rubber-tire and maglev technologies both claim that their lighter vehicles will result in a smaller elevated guideway and lower construction costs.
Helmond, Netherlands-based Advanced Public Transportation Systems proposes to sell the city rubber-tired vehicles for as little as $1.7 million each. That's cheaper than recent sales prices revealed by other vendors.
Robert Lee, a Hawai'i representative for APTS, said guideway costs for the company's super-bus could be at least one-third less than the guideway costs required by a heavier steel-wheeled train. That's because the diesel-powered APTS vehicles won't require steel rails, electrical power lines or other electrical insulation.
"We are very confident we can deliver a superior product in less time, less cost (and) less hassle to Honolulu's transit riders and taxpayers," Lee told council members during a recent hearing on transit technologies.
City officials have disputed APTS' claims.
Steel-technology proponents also argue that maglev technology is too experimental and risky for Honolulu.
Maglev mass-transit systems are operational in only two cities — Shanghai, China, and Nagoya, Japan. However, maglev is a mature technology with more than 30 years of development and deployment experience, according to a June 2004 report by the Federal Transit Administration for the Colorado Department of Transportation. The report concluded that maglev technology was ready to be deployed in the United States.
Just how much maglev vehicles could cost the city is being kept confidential. However, Tokyo-based Mitsubishi-Itochu said its maglev technology is a cost-competitive alternative that offers low operational costs and far lower noise levels than steel- and rubber-based technologies.
"We look forward to competing against steel on steel or any other technology for this very special transit system, that is perfect for this technology," said Itochu spokesman Frank Latino.
Concerns about noise pollution recently surfaced after the city began favoring steel-train technology. A maglev train would generate a maximum 69 decibels of noise at 23 feet, according to Itochu. That's lower than any competing technology and below the city's requirement of no more than 75 decibels of noise at 50 feet.
According to panel member Barsony's evaluation, steel technology "has serious problems" meeting the city's maximum allowable noise levels, whereas maglev would have "no problem."
Four of the city's five panelists rated steel technology as the noisiest alternative compared with rubber on concrete, magnetic levitation and monorail technologies. In addition, the city's consultant, New York-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, identified steel technology as noisier than magnetic levitation technology in a May 2007 report.
The Committee on Transportation and Public Works is expected to vote on the issue on Thursday.
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.
Honolulu could decide to evaluate more than one technology during the environmental impact study. However, that could cause delays.
"The cost is slightly more, but not something that would break us," explained city Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka during a council meeting earlier this month. "Our primary concern is schedule. The longer we keep (considering) multiple technologies, the more we lengthen the process."
Hannemann hopes to break ground on the project in 2009, with the first segment starting service between East Kapolei and Waipahu in 2012.
Council member Todd Apo agrees the city should select a single technology soon.
"I think the expert panel gave us a lot of good analysis and good information," he said. "They made a recommendation based on that. We're not necessarily going to rubber stamp their decision.
However, "From everything I've looked at there's a lot of good reasons to do steel on steel," Apo said. "As much as I like maglev, I don't know if it's right for our system."
Reach Sean Hao at 525-8093 or shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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