On Feb. 25, Wayne Yoshioka, the city's director of Transportation Services, wrote a rebuttal to my proposal that the old Oahu Railway & Land right-of-way be used as the route for the rail (”;Using old OR&L path for rail not practical,”; Star-Bulletin, Island Commentary). His article is in places misleading, in others badly misinformed.

Concerning use of the OR&L route, he writes, “;Dudley should ask the residents living in the Ewa Plain what they think of a major construction project in their area, since it would displace dozens of families and businesses to construct stations, park-and-ride lots, and other facilities.”;

What planet has he been living on? The OR&L route would bring the rail to the people of Ewa and Ewa Beach. They would cheer. In 2030, the rail would save them a two-hour drive to the city. As planned now, rail excludes them. The OR&L right of way is empty and open, 40 feet wide from Nanakuli to the stadium. There are no families that will be displaced. Two small shops may have to move. The only “;major”; construction would be a rail fly-over Fort Weaver Road. A huge open field next to the tracks at Fort Weaver is perfect for a station and park and ride.

Yoshioka next mentions “;the utility corridor underneath the OR&L right-of-way.”; It is true that part of the right of way contains the Chevron pipeline. But Chevron says it may shut it down. The electricity lines are no problem and can actually be a benefit, powering the train.

He says, “;Federal law prevents the use of recreational and historic resources for transportation purposes. Ewa Villages area is an historic district.”; So? The rail will also travel through three other historic districts: Makalapa, Chinatown and the Capitol District. Historic Ewa had a rail line as an essential component. Restoring it should not be very problematic.

“;The rail route along the Waipahu shoreline would make the system less accessible to all development mauka of Farrington Highway and squander an opportunity for connections between cars, buses and the rail.”; Wrong again. The stations are only a short distance below Farrington and Kamehameha. Buses and cars can easily access them. Most are in areas that invite future development or revitalization, a goal of transit-oriented development. Further, Leeward Community College would be a far shorter walk for students. There is room beside LCC for H-2 access roads, and room below it for the huge park-and-ride now planned for Banana Patch. Pearlridge, the stadium and the gates of Pearl Harbor are all well served by the OR&L route.

Regarding the solving of our traffic problems, he writes, “;The current project will provide thousands of park-and-ride spaces. City buses will be reassigned to runs to each community rail station.”; About 1,900 park and ride stalls for the whole Ewa plain is hardly thousands. For Leeward to reach its anticipated 30,000 rail ridership, buses would have to pick up 28,000 people. Not gonna happen.

“;Dudley's claims that rail will deface Waipahu flies in the face of the Waipahu neighborhood board, which has endorsed the city's plan.”; This is why it is so important to wake up the people of recently beautified Waipahu themselves. Traffic during construction will be unbearable. Businesses will fold. The elevated rail may look acceptable for awhile, but graffiti and red-dirt stain will turn this massive imposing structure and all of Waipahu into a permanent eyesore.

Yoshioka did get one point right. I mistakenly said there would be 142,000 Koko Head bound cars in rush hour freeway traffic in 2030. That figure is for 24 hours; 85,000 during the morning rush would be more correct.

Mr. Yoshioka knows amazingly little about the OR&L route because, like other alternatives, it was never seriously studied. Serving developers was the determining guide in West-side rail decisions. “;The preferred alternative”;—elevated rail on the current route—serves them well. However, in serving developers, solutions to our traffic problems were sacrificed. Rail service to Ewa was sacrificed. Waipahu town was sacrificed. And years of misery in traffic jams for thousands of West-siders during construction was accepted.

If the city adopted light rail, and put it on the ground on the OR&L right-of-way at least up to the stadium, it could avoid all the problems, use more local workers and do the job in X the time at X the cost, saving us and our children more than a billion dollars. That merits more serious study.