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Although U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was the guest of honor at a Tuesday night gathering of politicians and union leaders in a Hilton Hawaiian Village conference room, the event was mostly a testament to Sen. Dan Inouye’s influence.

“I came here at the invitation of Sen. Inouye,” LaHood told the crowd. “Sen. Inouye has been an extraordinary leader in the Senate. We rely on him so much for the work we do in transportation.”

Inouye was there, along with Federal Transit Administration Administrator Peter Rogoff and Sen. Daniel Akaka.

“One of the reasons we came out here was to give the leaders in the community a status report on where we think things are at,” LaHood said in an interview afterward. “We think things are progressing fine. There’s probably a few more things that need to be done, some additional paperwork.”

The long list of local political players in the room included Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, chief rail planner Toru Hamayasu, former Managing Director Kirk Caldwell, Sen. Gil Kahele, City Council members Nestor Garcia, Breene Harimoto, Stanley Chang, Ernie Martin and Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo. The Pacific Resource Partnership — a carpenters union organization that advocates unionized construction — hosted the event.

The visit to Honolulu is a first for both LaHood and Rogoff, who plan to meet with Carlisle, Hamayasu and other local transit leaders Wednesday morning.

“Sen. Inouye is the absolute lynchpin,” Carlisle told Civil Beat. “He has been trying to get them here, and he got them here. It’s exciting, it’s energizing, it shows the confidence that the federal government has in this project. This a big shot in the arm. Rail is going to happen, and these guys are going to make sure it happens.”

City officials’ opportunity to show federal interest in Honolulu’s rail project is the second major milestone for the project this week. On Monday, Carlisle announced the city’s award of two new rail contracts worth $946 million.

The addition of those contracts — one for the creation of the rail line’s so-called core systems like train cars and a command center, the other for the second phase of the guideway — bring the total the city has promised to rail contractors to about $1.5 billion.

Although the city has yet to enter into what’s called a Full Funding Grant Agreement with the FTA, which would guarantee Honolulu $1.55 billion in federal funds, Rogoff told Civil Beat it’s standard for cities to promise huge sums of money at this stage in the project.

“It’s not unusual,” Rogoff said. “Understand that more than a billion dollars is a very large number, but it’s a $5 billion project, so you’re talking about 20 percent. Importantly, for the FTA to see how costs are really coming in, we review those contracts. The greater specificity and certainty we have to the actual project cost, it gives us greater comfort to know that the project’s sponsor can afford the project. So I wouldn’t view it as out of the ordinary at all.”

Federal officials say they are awaiting an updated version of the city’s financial plan before entering into a Full Funding Grant Agreement. Transit chief Hamayasu says he expects that plan to be submitted sometime within the next few months, possibly in June.

The FTA has instructed the city to strengthen its financial plan, which earned a “low” rating in one category, “capital cost estimates, planning assumptions and financial capacity.” Overall, the FTA gave the project a “medium” rating.

Asked which areas federal transit officials identify as key for Honolulu’s improved financial plan, LaHood was reluctant to offer specifics.

“This is a very complicated process, and it’s not worth our time here to get into every intimate detail,” LaHood told Civil Beat. “We’re going to continue to evaluate documents, and I have no doubt that people here get it. They’ve come a long way. They’ve made a lot of progress.”

LaHood emphasized local support for the project, as evidenced by its ability to survive recent mayoral and gubernatorial leadership changes. Pressed for more detail about finances, he said the federal officials “look for a lot of things.”

“We want to make sure that the project is financially viable,” LaHood said. “We want to make sure that the ridership will be there. We want to make sure where they’re putting the infrastructure meets all the environmental considerations. This is very complicated. There’s not one or two things. It’s a series of things, and a series of requirements involving financial, where it’s going to be located, how many people are going to ride it, all of these things we have to take into consideration.”

LaHood said he also looks forward to meeting with Gov. Neil Abercrombie to discuss Honolulu’s ports.