If Pictures = Lots of Words, Check Out This One

This graphic shows the expected result after the Honolulu rail system is built between East Kapolei and Ala Moana Center.

Each 300-passenger train will carry the same number of commuters as 200-plus private cars.

The resulting shift from car to rail is expected to reduce surface congestion by about 20 percent within two decades compared to what traffic would be if rail weren’t up and running, which is what it's scheduled to be doing 10 years from now.

The project is expected to reduce vehicle miles traveled in 2030 by about 4 percent, with a corresponding 4-percent reduction in pollutants emitted by vehicles not driven thanks to the system.

The bottom line on Honolulu's rail transit project: It will be Fast, Frequent and Reliable -- which is what you get when you build it as currently planned on an elevated guideway above all surface congestion.