Honolulu plans fully autonomous transit system

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is embarking on a fully automated transportation system to help reduce highway traffic congestion by as much as 18 per cent, officials say, taking as many as 40,000 automobiles off the road and replacing them with a fleet of four-car trains that can accommodate up to 800 passengers. Said to be the first fully automated wide-scale urban transit system in the United States, the $5.2 billion Honolulu Rail Transit Project features a 20-mile elevated rai
September 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) is embarking on a fully automated transportation system to help reduce highway traffic congestion by as much as 18 per cent, officials say, taking as many as 40,000 automobiles off the road and replacing them with a fleet of four-car trains that can accommodate up to 800 passengers.

Said to be the first fully automated wide-scale urban transit system in the United States, the $5.2 billion Honolulu Rail Transit Project features a 20-mile elevated rail line that will be run through a centralised, scheduled system to prevent human error and reduce delays.

Instead of human drivers, a centrally-located computer system will control stops, departures, and speed, and even open and close doors. Operation will be cheaper than for manually-driven rail, says Dan Grabauskas, executive director and CEO HART, and he also expects it to be safer. The autonomous rail line is expected to begin operating in three years.

Related Content

  • Cable cars come of age in trans-continental expansion
    April 30, 2015
    David Crawford explores a high-level option of public transport. Sharing its origin with that of ski lifts at winter sports resorts in the European Alps, urban aerial cable transport is attracting growing interest as a low-footprint, low-energy alternative to conventional public transport that can swoop over ground-level traffic congestion.
    Read More
  • Spokane Transit Authority expands public transport system
    January 10, 2013
    Public transport passengers in Spokane, Washington, US, are to get real time transit information both on and off the vehicle. Passenger transport systems provider Trapeze Group is to extend the current Spokane Transit Authority (STA) Trapeze transit enterprise system to include a comprehensive intelligent transportation system to help them better manage their fixed-route bus service and provide passengers with real time transit information. The Trapeze solution for STA includes computer-aided dispatch and
    Read More
  • Activu and Mitsubishi give New Jersey controllers the big picture
    May 27, 2014
    Mitsubishi and Activu team up to help New Jersey emergency centre with real-time situational awareness. Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, with winds spanning an area of 1,100 miles and damages estimated at $68 billion. It killed at least 286 people in seven countries, from Jamaica to the Jersey Shore. But tropical storms are not the only challenge for emergency operations up and down the East Coast.
    Read More
  • Rochester solves $8.5m transit question
    October 22, 2018
    RTS in Rochester, New York, saves by working with Conduent to upgrade its CAD/AVL systems rather than ripping them up and replacing them. Andrew Bardin Williams hops on for a ride. What to do, what to do?” It’s a question every transportation official must ask when faced with legacy assets, equipment and software that are nearing the end of their useful life. Nothing lasts forever, right? Freeways need to be repaired, bridges replaced, traffic management software updated and railway cars turned into
    Read More

Highlighted Content