Honolulu Rapid Transit

[Busy Bee]

^ The video is shot zoomed all the way in. That will make any mode of transport look like it's crawling. Bad video. Hopefully there will be several good quality RFW videos this first couple weeks of operation.

[sopas ej]

Watching the news video again, I really liked hearing the accents, and even the news reporter is almost code switching, mentioning families riding with their keiki and the kopuna from Kapolei; I love how they throw in Hawaiian words that people from other parts of the US might not understand.

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

I think that the telephoto compression is causing it to look much slower than it is.

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

^ The video is shot zoomed all the way in. That will make any mode of transport look like it's crawling. Bad video. Hopefully there will be several good quality RFW videos this first couple weeks of operation.

Ah OK, I didn't think of the zooming in/compression. Yeah, hopefully more videos will be posted of the ride from end-to-end; I'm already seeing plenty of videos of the new Regional Connector here in LA on Youtube.

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Also, you can tell that the kids have never ridden on a train of any kind before. This thing is blowing their mind.

Yes! It's kind of cute. It reminds me of when I took my sister's kids when they were very little to Hollywood from South Pasadena on the train to see "Wall-E"; it was crowded when we got on so we all had to stand, but my youngest nephew, who was two-and-a-half at the time, said "Weee!" while hanging onto the pole as the train started moving.

[Busy Bee]

Trains are one of the best experiences for kids and adults alike. It's the reason i feel so sorry for so many Americans.

[FesterBestertester]

“Skyline Schedule:

Monday - Friday:
5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday:
8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

City Holidays:
8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.” honolulu (dot) gov

[TowerDude]

Once they extend the system to at least the Airport they will need to extend the operating hours till at least 10 PM ...

[mattropolis]

An automated system should at least run from 6am to midnight 7 days per week.

[Nouvellecosse]

I've never heard of a metro system that closes at 7pm. Perhaps it happens in some small and obscure place I'm not familiar with.

[digitallagasse]

I don't understand why this is a 24/7 service. It could be less frequent in off hours as needed but why not 24/7. This is automated so it isn't like it would be due to lack of staff. Maintenance could still happen during off hours.

[TowerDude]

• Video Link

[wanderer34]

The only miss from HART, although it's slated to link the airport in a few years, is that it doesn't have a direct airport link right now. It would've been better if HART had an airport link first, and maybe link to the city center as opposed to what they have right now, but it's a good start, and once the system is complete by 2031, Honolulu will have a decent light rail system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)

[electricron]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

The only miss from HART, although it's slated to link the airport in a few years, is that it doesn't have a direct airport link right now. It would've been better if HART had an airport link first, and maybe link to the city center as opposed to what they have right now, but it's a good start, and once the system is complete by 2031, Honolulu will have a decent light rail system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyline_(Honolulu)

I will agree with you that they built the wrong half first. But, they had to place the maintenance facility and yard on the western side of Pearl Harbor, or at least said so. Hence why they built the western half first. They would probably already be at the airport and possibly the western most station in downtown if they had started building east from the maintenance facility, imho. But that is not what they built.

Sometimes planners look at things in stranger ways. It is entirely possible once the citizens saw and used the new trains, there is no way the voters would not ante up more money to get the entire line built. So they put at risk the downtown section hoping to influence the next referendum. If they postponed the western half, it may never have gotten approval later to be built..........

[OhioGuy]

New Skyline extension opens in Honolulu

The new extension adds four stations—Makalapa Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Lelepaua Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Ahua Lagoon Drive, and Kahauiki Kalihi Transit Center—expanding access across key hubs and enhancing mobility for residents and visitors alike. The project represents the largest public infrastructure investment in Hawaii’s history, marking a major step toward sustainable, island-wide public transport for Oʻahu.

What’s next for Skyline
Passenger services on the new Segment 2 will officially begin on 16 October 2025, with free public ride days on 18 and 19 October. The expansion brings Skyline’s total route to 13 stations across Segments 1 and 2.

Looking ahead, Segment 3 is scheduled for completion by 2031, adding six further stations and connecting Oʻahu’s western corridor directly to downtown Honolulu.

(image from article linked above)

[OhioGuy]

Here's a good video just posted today on the new extension and future plans.

• Video Link

[sopas ej]

Glad to know that service hours for the Skyline are now 4:00 am to 10:30 pm. Yeah, it could run later I suppose, but it used to be 5:00 am to 7:00 pm!

[TowerDude]

Dr. Puakea Nogelmeier does the announcements for the Skyline and there are some phrases in Hawaiian that he says right as the train departs a station and right before they arrive and I am wondering what they mean.

[xd_1771]

I'm going to revive this thread to post this gem I found while browsing through old links and research 👀

https://web.archive.org/web/201603281430...e/dsweb/Get/Document-1496/AR00085362.pdf

This document is basically every company who bidded for the SKYLINE system during planning, ever.

I don't know who'd be interested in this but it's so rare to find competing turnkey bid details like this together from different companies!

To summarize:

• Alstom (pre acquisition of Bombardier) proposed a driverless metro with 3-car trains based on the Hamburg Metro
• AnsaldoBreda (pre merger with Hitachi Rail) info is all redacted, but as we all know they were the winner and provided the system that exists today
• APTS (a.k.a. Phileas) proposed a bi-articulated BRT system modelled on the Istanbul Metrobus, running at-grade and using magnetic in-ground guidance systems comparable to the Eugene EmX system in Oregon (and a precursor to CRRC's ARRT system in China using optical technology)
• Bombardier (pre acquisition by Alstom) proposed a driverless metro using the ART (ICTS) system, with 2-car linear motor trains modelled on the Vancouver SkyTrain Millennium Line
• Hitachi-Mitsui (pre acquisition of AnsaldoBreda) bid, but the details are completely redacted
• Niigata Transys (bidding as IHI corporation) proposed a rubber-tyred automated people mover based on the Yurikamome in Tokyo
  Mitsubishi in conjunction with Itochu proposed an HSST Maglev modelled on the Linimo in Nagoya
• Mitsubishi in conjunction with Sumitomo concurrently proposed a driverless metro with ... based on the Dubai Metro
• Siemens France proposed a rubber-tyred light metro based on the VAL system (CityVal), specifically the VAL 208 vehicle used by the Lille Metro in France
• Siemens U.S. proposed a conventional low-floor light rail system using S70 LRVs
• Translohr proposed a Translohr system (yes, they bid!)

[mhays]

Nice find. It's a gold mine for design considerations for example.

These are proposals, not bids. A bid is where each competitor just submits a price. That happens after design is complete up to a certain point. These are proposing design concepts and team qualifications, i.e. design hasn't started yet.

It's actually fairly common to have access to competing proposals for public projects (maybe less so in Hawaii). Some require public information requests and some are proactively shared by the agencies. As a proposal writer for general contractors I've looked at our competitors' proposals many times.

[Busy Bee]

Very cool.

I'll have to wade through this a bit deeper later.

Is there anything by comparison more lame than the Siemens USA pitch?

[mhays]

Some of these miss a lot of best practices. Key points should be bulleted so you can understand at a glance. Letters should be from people, not corporations. Narratives should be short and narrower for readability. Layouts should draw people along, more like magazines, which was common by 2007.

Some pages are forms, so at least that part is understandable. Also sometimes owners mandate font sizes, layouts, page counts, and in a few cases even a limitation on graphics or photos.

[mrnyc]

what a very cool find thanks