Trains and lanes are the topics of two major transportation symposiums being held in Honolulu next week.

On Sunday, a four-day international conference on freeways and tollways will kick off at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort and Spa. About 200 people from Australia to Britain are expected to attend the symposium, which will cover how to better use existing roadways to reduce traffic.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall, the city is hosting a symposium on rail transit featuring an international slate of speakers.

The coincidental timing of the two symposiums appears to be accidental. However, both symposiums are relevant to an ongoing community debate concerning how to address the city's future transportation needs. The city's major initiative is to build a $5.4 billion commuter train from East Kapolei to Ala Moana. However, a significant faction of the local community favors building new managed highway lanes to alleviate future traffic.

The freeway conference will feature discussions on active traffic and incident management, the impacts of traffic congestion on businesses, the benefits of high-occupancy vehicle lanes and more, said local event organizer Panos Prevedouros, a University of Hawai'i engineering professor. Prevedouros, a critic of the city's rail project, said the symposium is an opportunity for the exchange of information for transportation professionals.

"There is no real political agenda," he said. "But it is now real opportune that it is in Hawai'i because Hawai'i is ... one of the few places that's at least discussing major transportation infrastructure."

The city's train symposium will feature speakers familiar with new and existing train systems comparable to Honolulu's planned steel-wheel-on-steel-rail train. The symposium is free and registration forms are available at www.honolulutransit.org.

The cost for attending the freeway symposium for local residents is $200 or $175 for one-day admission. More information is available at http://2isfo.eng.hawaii.edu.