Just got off the phone with HART CEO Dan Grabauskas, who’s very warm in Washington D.C. but says he’s had productive meetings there to help move federal funding for Honolulu’s rail project closer to reality.

“The meeting with Secretary (Ray) LaHood was very good and he was able to reiterate to me his support for the project,” Grabauskas said. It’s the first face-to-face meeting since HART submitted its full funding grant agreement application.

“We’re down to a handful of items that we’re exchanging changes on,” Grabauskas said. Examples include documentation on Hawaii Department of Transportation safety oversight and ensuring that contracts include the necessary federal clauses — small kine stuff.

“There are no items outstanding right now, at this time, relative to the finance plan, which is good,” Grabauskas said. “Nothing problematic, nothing major, everything’s going in the right direction. Just some T’s to cross, I’s to dot.”

The Federal Transit Administration’s oversight contractor is still conducting its review of the financial plan, so more questions could arise later.

Grabauskas also sat down with Reps. Tom Latham and John Olver, the Republican chair and ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee’s transportation subcommittee, to get their “reaction and feedback as we’re going to be looking to shepherd the appropriations through.”

Below is a photo, courtesy of HART, of Grabauskas touring the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project in Virginia.

— Michael Levine