text: At-grade rail may be acceptable to the FTA as a viable option but it does not meet the terms of the 2012 Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA), which calls for “80 light metro fully automated (driverless) rail vehicles.” At-grade rail will require an operator. I also calculate the cost for conversion, using the Honolulu Transit Task Force’s own figures, to be $7.23 billion. Converting, instead, to American designed urban magnetic levitation (maglev) will meet ALL of the terms of the FFGA, keep the system elevated and automated, and enable completion within the available funding (through 2027) of $6.8 billion. Maglev also is the quietest and most environmentally sound rail system. Maglev 2000 technology will allow use of existing guideway by both acquired steel trains and maglev vehicles. It is time to move into the 21st Century.