HART installs first tracks for Honolulu rail project

Rails are now being installed on the rail guideway segments near what will be the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation's (HART) Hoopili rail station in Ewa, Hawaii.

Eventually, HART will use 140 miles of track for the Honolulu transit-rail project, a 20-mile elevated light-rail line. Tracks will run in each direction and a third rail will power the system.

The authority also will build track at its rail operations center in Waipahu, where rail cars will be cleaned, maintained and stored, HART announced in its weekly "eBlast" newsletter.

HART has purchased more than 13,000 tons of rail and other track materials, including concrete ties, fasteners and special trackwork for the rail system. The agency expects its rail cars to be delivered from a manufacturing plant in Italy mid-2016.