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The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation's (HART) board yesterday approved a $1.75 million plan to purchase 800 additional passenger seats for the rail-car fleet that will run on the area's transit-rail system now under construction.

The cost will include design changes to the cars to accommodate the extra seats, as well as fabrication, production and installation. Each two-car train now will have 96 seats, HART officials said in a prepared statement.

Existing contingency funds in the budget will cover the cost, they said.

"We're building this system for our customers, and they've made it clear that they want more seats on our trains," said HART Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Dan Grabauskas. "Adding more seating is part of our overall goal of making the transit experience as safe, reliable and comfortable as possible."

The system's first 10 miles, to run from Kapolei to Aloha Stadium, is slated to open in 2017. The full 20-mile elevated line is scheduled to open in 2019.