Kings–Tulare Regional Station

Kings–Tulare Regional Station
Location	Central Valley Highway outside Hanford, California
Coordinates	36°20′07″N 119°35′32″W / 36.335141°N 119.592321°W / 36.335141; -119.592321
Owned by	California High-Speed Rail Authority
History
Opening	2018 (Amtrak service) 2025 (High-Speed Rail service)
Services
Preceding station   California High-Speed Rail   Following station Fresno toward Merced or San Francisco   Phase I (under construction)   Bakersfield toward Anaheim
Location
Kings–Tulare Regional Station Location within California

Kings–Tulare Regional Station is a proposed California High-Speed Rail station serving Kings County and Tulare County, California. It would be located near the intersection of Hanford Expressway and Central Valley Highway, just east of the city limits of Hanford and less than 20 miles (32 km) west of the larger city of Visalia. The construction of the station has been controversial, with Tulare County supporting the station while Kings County, where the station would be located, has strongly opposed the entire California High-Speed Rail project. The station is part of the Initial Construction Segment expected to be completed by 2017.

The current Amtrak San Joaquin service in the Central Valley uses the BNSF Railway tracks through the center of Hanford, stopping at an existing station there. However, a high-speed rail route along this alignment was strongly opposed by Hanford city officials, who said that it would disrupt the city's historic downtown. This meant that only routes that bypassed Hanford city limits were considered. An alignment along Route 99 was ruled out due to the extra expense and uncertain cooperation from Union Pacific Railroad, which has its own track in the vicinity. This left routes through rural areas, which ran into opposition from farmers whose land would be taken.

In October 2011 the Kings County Board of Supervisors voted to oppose all possible alignments through that county. In December 2011 the Kings County Association of Governments turned down a station planning grant that it had already been approved for due to opposition within the county. Tulare County and the City of Visalia continued to pursue a similar grant, leading to complaints from Kings County officials that Tulare County was sidelining Kings County's jurisdiction. Hanford officials also complained that the opening of the high-speed rail station would lead to a loss of service to the existing downtown Amtrak station, negatively affecting the city's tourism industry due to the new station being 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the city center.