They're expected to be about 300 feet long, 50 feet wide and most will be more than three stories tall. To critics, they're aircraft carriers in the sky. Proponents argue that the massive elevated train stations will be the most efficient way to move an estimated 95,000 people a day to and from urban Honolulu.

So far much of the debate about the aesthetics of the commuter train has focused on the 30-foot-wide by 20-mile-long elevated track. Now a debate about the visual impact of 21 planned train stations along the Kapolei to Ala Moana route is taking form.

The city has released conceptual drawings of four stations at the 'ewa end of the route. The drawings, which were developed with the aid of architects and community input, have gotten favorable reviews, the city said.

However, the drawings haven't quelled opposition to an all-elevated $5.29 billion train from groups such as the Hawai'i chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The city's drawings, which show the stations blending into surrounding scenery via landscaping and architectural designs, are being displayed at a series of community meetings, including one tonight in Kapolei. Though conceptual in nature, the drawings reflect much of the final look and feel of the stations, city officials said.

"No matter where I travel in the world, I would be very proud and point to our station designs and say it's nice as anything I've seen anywhere," said city managing director Kirk Caldwell. "I can't believe anyone who loves their city would say let's design an ugly station or system.

"If you're going to do it, you're going to make it as beautiful as possible."

Upper-level station platform designs, dimensions and layout will be standardized across the entire system. Station entrances and related ground-level structures will be tailored to fit each surrounding community. For example, a station planned on Farrington Highway at Mokuola Street in Waipahu has a corrugated roof reflective of the town's plantation history.

Similarly, designs for two East Kapolei stations are meant to reflect a local sense of place, said James Stone, a principal of Group 70 International, which was hired by the city to design stations that will be near the Kroc Center and the planned University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus. Both stations have their own theme and are characterized by their own designs and materials.

The envisioned UH-West O'ahu station has a mauka theme illustrated by a tiered building design, weathered lava rock walls and a vegetated roof planted with indigenous plants such as red 'ilima. The Kroc Center station's makai theme is illustrated with coral walls, canoe-sail-inspired design features and other ocean motifs.

MAJOR BLANK SPOTS

Preliminary drawings of a station for the future Hoopili master-planned community may be released next week, according to the city. That proposed development still needs approval from the state Land Use Commission.

There currently is no date for the release of a drawing of a park-and-ride lot and station planned for the area where the H-1 and H-2 freeways merge.

About 55 or so residents of the area known as the Banana Patch will need to move to make way for the park-and-ride lot. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other groups have urged the city to alter the train's route to avoid displacing the small Waiawa neighborhood.

For now the city is focusing on designing the other five stations that will sit along the initial six miles of track that are scheduled to open between 2012 and 2013. That means there are no comparable designs available for stations for the Downtown area.

Some critics of an elevated train contend that the city is understating the potential visual impacts of the train stations with its colorful drawings.

"I never trust the renderings," said Honolulu architect Scott Wilson, chair of the AIA's transit task force. "These renderings are like (public relations) jobs to make people feel good. You can always draw in lots of colorful flowers and palm trees to hide things."

The AIA, Kamehameha Schools, the Outdoor Circle, the Sierra Club Honolulu and other groups have expressed varying levels of concern about the visual impact of an entirely elevated train system.

A ground-level train, they say, would not block views. It could also shave millions of dollars off the cost of the project — and that could allow the city to build a longer train system.

The city eliminated the ground-level transit option long ago on concerns that a ground-level train would interfere with road traffic, operate at slower speeds and have lower ridership and higher long-term costs.

DIFFERENT SCENARIO

Whether the planned 20-mile train from East Kapolei to Ala Moana runs on the ground or on an elevated guideway could depend on how concerns about elevating the train affect the outcome of an ongoing environmental impact review. However, switching to a ground-level, or at-grade, system at this stage would require additional environmental and engineering studies and would likely delay the city's plan to begin construction in December.

The AIA-Hawai'i's goal is to rally support for an alternative train system that could be built at grade along Honolulu's waterfront and in other areas. Last week, the group released its own rendering of a planned Chinatown station, based on drawings in the project's draft environmental impact statement.

The rendering, which is placed over an actual picture of the surrounding area, is meant to show the true impact of the station on Honolulu's scenery.

"When you're 30 feet in the air that's a great view," the AIA's Wilson said. "What we're trying to show is that down on the street, where most people are, these things are gigantic.

"It's hideous."

City transportation director Wayne Yoshioka acknowledged that the stations are big. However, the AIA's drawing represents a rough estimation of what the stations will look like. Landscaping and architectural design elements should soften the impact of stations built in urban Honolulu, he said.

"No one can accuse us of sugar-coating what an elevated station could look like, because I think the (draft environmental impact statement) ... probably represents the worst-case scenario of what an elevated station could look like," he said.

Actual station designs will be done by whichever contractor the city chooses to build stations. Still, those designs are expected to be heavily influenced by the renderings now being produced by the city, Yoshioka said.

"I think there would be a high probability it would be like that," he said.