The nonprofit Stop Rail Now lost a court appeal yesterday in seeking to get its anti-rail ordinance on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

Voters will still be able to voice their opinions on rail, although the ballot question likely will be written by the City Council instead of Stop Rail Now.

The council's charter amendment question asks whether the city shall "establish a steel wheel on steel rail transit system."

Stop Rail Now wanted the question to read: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail."

Stop Rail Now attorney Earle Partington said the ruling was a "great disappointment."

City deputy corporation counsel Don Kitaoka said, "We are pleased the court ruled the way it did."

The state Intermediate Court of Appeals' 32-page ruling said Stop Rail Now did not show that significant irreparable harm would be caused if its proposed ordinance is not placed on the ballot. Meanwhile, granting the request could create serious, negative consequences for the upcoming general election, according to the ruling.

The city argued that it is too late to put Stop Rail Now's initiative on the November ballot because those ballots are already being printed.

The court did not decide on the underlying merits of the case, which involves a lawsuit against the city clerk over the question of how many signatures are needed to place the Stop Rail Now measure on the ballot.

Stop Rail Now collected 49,000 signatures on petitions calling for placing the rail issue on the ballot. Of those, about 35,000 were deemed valid signatures.

Stop Rail Now argued that it needs about 30,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

A Circuit Court ruled earlier that the group needs nearly 45,000 valid signatures to place its proposed ordinance before general election voters. Stop Rail Now asked the appeals court to overturn that ruling.

Partington said Stop Rail Now would decide today whether to appeal yesterday's ruling to the Hawai'i Supreme Court. He acknowledged that time is running out if the proposed ordinance is to be voted on in the upcoming election.

"If we decide to go to the Supreme Court and it doesn't rule it in a week, we're dead," Partington said.

Stop Rail Now has criticized the city council's charter amendment question because it would not prevent the city from proceeding with the project regardless of the vote outcome.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann hopes to start construction on the 20-mile elevated commuter rail project in late 2009 or early 2010. The project is expected to cost an inflation-adjusted $5 billion and take nearly a decade to complete all phases.