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The Honolulu Rail Transit project will receive $55 million in New Starts funding from the Federal Transit Administration for the current fiscal year, two senators and two congressmen from Hawaii announced last week.

The allocation is identical to the amount requested in President Barack Obama’s fiscal-year 2011 budget, the congressmen said in a prepared statement. The level Honolulu received is significant because “the total amount of funds for New Starts for FY2011 was reduced from the $1.998 billion enacted in FY2010 to $1.597 billion, a 20 percent … reduction in the total program,” they said.

The $5.5 billion Honolulu Rail Transit project calls for building a 20-mile, 21-station elevated rail system connecting East Kapolei with Ala Moana Center. The first leg is scheduled to open in 2015 and the entire route is slated for completion in 2019.