ハワイ旅行･ホテル･ショッピング･グルメ･求人

The City Council was deadlocked yesterday on whether the new mass transit system will utilize rubber tires, steel wheels or magnetic levitation. The Councils chairwoman, Barbara Marshall, was absent and the remaining representatives failed to reach a majority consensus on the technology, effectively postponing the decision for another week.

The Council met for seven hours last night, listening to testimony and calling for repeated votes on the issue. Steel wheels on a steel rail was the technology with the most support after a city-appointed expert panel recommended steel-wheeled trains as the most reliable and cost-effective. Some council members, however, are seeking alternatives while others think that the $3.7 billion project is a waste of taxpayer money.

Despite the objections, Mayor Mufi Hanneman said that he would go forward with the project if the Council doesn't come up with a decision. A Council vote taken last year gives him the go ahead to choose the technology. He has already called for a draft environmental impact statement and other preliminary engineering reports. If all goes according to plan, the steel-wheel train will begin running in phases from 2012 to 2018.