The city needs to get about $1.4 billion of the $5.4 billion needed to build a 20-mile elevated commuter rail line from the federal government. However, the federal government may be stretched to pay for Honolulu's rail system given the needs of many aging public transport systems in cities such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

More than a third of the assets at the nation's seven largest rail transit agencies are in marginal or poor condition. And fixing those assets, which include trains, guideways, stations and control systems, will require $50 billion in repairs, according to a report by the Federal Transit Administration.

Fixing those ailing, older train systems may require diverting money from recently built and planned train systems, according to the recently released report to Congress. That could mean less money for Honolulu's planned rail system.

Overall, the report found that current methods for funding ongoing maintenance at the nation's largest and oldest train systems are inadequate and in need of fixing. The report also indicates that new and recently built train systems also have sizable maintenance backlogs.

"In a period of rising congestion and fuel prices, these services, and the infrastructure and rolling stock that support them, are critical to the transportation needs and quality of life of the communities they serve," the report states. "At the same time, this infrastructure is aging, and the level of reinvestment appears insufficient to address a growing backlog of deferred investment needs."

The seven cities studied in the report included older train systems in New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia, and relatively new train systems in San Francisco, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Combined, these systems serve more than 80 percent of the nation's rail riders. The study found that 35 percent of assets at these train systems were in marginal or poor condition. The proportion of train assets that are near or have already exceeded their expected useful life at newer train systems was close to 20 percent.

SEVERAL OPTIONS

"This comparison suggests that the reinvestment needs for these seven operators is measurably higher (per dollar invested) than the rest of the transit industry," the report states.

The options presented to Congress to fix the problem include shifting more money to larger, older train systems and creating a special fund using federal and state resources to reduce the maintenance backlog, according to the report. Federal funding for the upkeep of older train systems has declined as new train systems have opened.

The federal government annually provides about $2.3 billion for rail capital reinvestment. That funding covers just 13 percent of the average annual reinvestment needs of older U.S. rail systems. In contrast, federal funding covers 30 percent of average annual reinvestment needs at newer rail systems.

The FTA report is likely to be welcomed by cities with older, aging trains. But the report may not bode well for Honolulu, which needs $1.4 billion in federal money to help build a rail system linking East Kapolei to Ala Moana and $800 million more in federal funds to help maintain the transit system through 2030.

Overall, the city expects to spend $5.4 building rail and $1.4 billion more operating and maintaining the system from 2013, when the first extension is to open, through 2030.

'A HUGE PROBLEM'

Rail opponents claim the federal government is unlikely to provide all the money the city needs to build rail. Cliff Slater, chairman of www.Honolulutraffic.com, said the new FTA report shows that the federal government can't afford to maintain its existing train systems, let alone build new ones.

"This is a huge problem," said Slater, who wants the city to build an elevated highway rather than rail. "If (the FTA) is sitting there with a backlog of $50 billion, how long can they stretch that out without (older trains) taking all the money? Those things have to be taken care of.

"All those systems, they've just let maintenance go as governments are wont to do," Slater added.

Just how these train funding issues are resolved is up to Congress.

Jennifer Goto Sabas, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye's chief of staff in Honolulu, said the maintenance problems with the nation's older trains shouldn't affect the amount of so-called new starts funding available for new train projects. If anything, the expectation is that Congress will spend more money on transit overall in the future, she said.

"There isn't ... any interest in reducing the new starts side in an effort to take care of the legacy systems," Sabas said. "Part of it over time is are there going to be new taxes, (or) are you going to increase fares, but there's clearly not an interest in reducing the new starts at all to pay for that."