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The line from the Joni Mitchell is, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

With rail, based on an interview with Gino Antoniello, vice president of Sumitomo Corporation of America, one of the firms bidding to build Honolulu’s project, it might be, with apologies to a great songwriter: “You won’t know what you have till it’s built.”

I caught up with Antoniello on Tuesday at the Summit on the State of Physical Infrastructure in Hawaii.

We talked a day after Civil Beat published my report on the views of leading rail opponent Cliff Slater. What Antoniello could provide, I hoped, was an outside perspective. Somebody who didn’t live here, but who had seen and built a lot of rail projects. What made this project worthwhile? What made it stand out? How would he recommend people here look at it, recognizing that he wants his company to get paid for building, maintaining and operating it?

Antoniello works out of Miami, but he’s a straight shooter from Brooklyn. He wasn’t shy about the microphone, even though there were a few areas he didn’t want to touch given that he’s bidding on the project.

First, the NIMBY syndrome is something rail runs into everywhere it comes up. “There are always some residents who don’t want it,” he said of rail.

But he said “the beauty of transit” is that “people don’t appreciate it until after it’s built.” Then, they’ll ask: “How did we ever live without it?”

Antoniello acknowledged that the city would experience “a little pain” in the design/build phase. But he swore that in his 25 years as a rail man he can’t think of one city that says it has regretted building a rail system. He’s been involved in projects in Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Dubai.

Honolulu’s proposal is “one of the premier transit projects in the country,” he said. “Other cities will model their projects on the success of this one.”

Why? Because the plan is fully integrated, fully automated and elevated. Fully integrated means that the whole project is overseen by one company, which designs, builds, operates and maintains the system. Honolulu will also be using proven technology, which is key, he said.

While critics question the visual impact of an elevated train running through such a scenic community, Antoniello swears that it will be better for safety (no collisions with other vehicles), for keeping the trains on schedule and for maintenance. Another benefit of the elevated system is that it can be automated. The trains here will not need drivers.

As for jobs, he pointed out that the system won’t just generate construction jobs, but that there will be many jobs created for operations and maintenance. His team has already approached a few area high schools about exposing students to the opportunities.

He wants his 400-year-old company to build it, he says, because “Anybody who builds it and builds it right will be able to point back and say, ‘This is how you do it.'”

As for noise, he promised that we won’t be hearing “squealy wheels.” New technology, lubrication and welded rails have transformed what we may think of as the traditional sound of steel wheels on steel rails.

He also promised that stations will increase the economic value of land around them.

In the end, he said, rail can’t be looked at as a short-term investment. We build transit for the future, for our children.

The question, then, is whether our children will thank us for what we’ve built or curse us for saddling them with something that doesn’t meet their needs but keeps swallowing money. Antoniello says, given the decisions that have already been made, our children will be thanking us for doing the work now.