That bill that was killed by the city council in 1992 died because those council members that voted against it did not believe Honolulu county could afford such a system, or even build it for what it was projected to cost.  You stated "That age group was promised a mass transit alternative on Oahu."
Fast forward to 2006.  This age group was told this mass transit project would solve the traffic problem.  This age group was promised the system would cost only so much. They were also promised the tax to pay for it would end by a certain year.  Not to mention that the route would run thru a certain town.  
None of those promises are true, it won't solve the traffic problem, costs 3x what it was said to cost, the tax has been extended 2 times already and route has changed.
We should be lucky that the council killed rail in '92, because of backroom dealings it didn't die in '06.  Had it been built back then, we would be in the same predicament back then that we are in now.