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KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- From the farmlands here on the western side of Oahu, the hotels of Honolulu and the bluffs of Diamond Head can be seen rising 20 miles in the distance. This is rural Hawaii: waves and coastline on one side, lush mountains on the other and barely a building or vehicle in sight. But sometime this spring, a $5.3 billion project is scheduled to rise from the Kapolei farmlands that offers powerful evidence of how much this island, a symbol of Pacific tranquillity, is changing. A 40-year battle to build a mass transit line appears to be nearing its end. Barring a court intervention, construction is to begin in March on a 20-mile rail line that will be elevated 40 feet in the air, barreling over farmland, commercial districts and parts of downtown Honolulu, and stretching from here to Waikiki. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FOR half a century, John and Helen Chilarski have lived along the Long Island Rail Road tracks. In a house they say cost $20,000 in 1957, they raised their two sons here, a 25-minute commute to Pennsylvania Station. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on how Raymond Kenny, the new president of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), solved the long outstanding problem concerning the existence of accident-prone gaps between train doors and station platforms. People have been slipping and getting injured due to these gaps, but the LIRR has been shirking the responsibility on the pretext that concrete platforms could not be moved. Kenny, then decided that tracks would be brought closer to the platforms with the help of a machine.