Many sectors of the local economy have suffered layoffs and closures, but construction of the rail has carried on.

If Rip Van Winkle fell asleep in Honolulu in 2006 when the rail cost was $3 billion, imagine his reaction upon waking 15 years later.

The wheel rims are narrower than the track crossings, causing renewed headaches on what’s now a $12.4 billion transit project.

The latest defect, revealed after a tense exchange at a City Council hearing, could delay the system’s interim opening another year.

UPDATED: It’s not clear how the city will fill the latest funding gap, which exceeds $3 billion.

That’s a couple of years earlier than a recent city estimate but also several years later than a recent HART estimate.

Dan Grabauskas, who resigned as director in 2016, says the assertions that he misrepresented the numbers are “flatly incorrect.”

The funding will help, but the multibillion-dollar transit project still faces much larger financial problems.

The longtime transit official was hired in 2016 to help guide Oahu’s rail project through an especially rocky period.

He’ll oversee a public relations program whose costs he sought to reduce as the council’s budget chairman.