September 4,2015-
Visalia and the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) appear ready to carry on with a “connectivity study” that was proposed by Hanford City Manager Darrel Pyle recently – part of a two prong effort to work with the rail authority on station design as well as a look at a possible light rail route connecting the proposed Hanford rail station to Tulare County.
Pyle’s proposal to the Hanford City Council fell flat on both counts as the council did not want get in the middle of the long standing dispute between the rail authority and Kings County. After some discussion at an August meeting, the city opted for no study or cooperative effort at all.
Breathing new life into doing at least some planning with CHSRA Visalia mayor Steve Nelsen now says Visalia and TCAG have no appetite to come into another jurisdiction to work with the state rail agency on station design elements but are ready to work with them on a connectivity study.
“We have been talking to the Authority on helping us fund a study of how we get people from A to B between Hanford and Visalia. After all, this is a regional station that needs to serve the much larger population we have in Tulare County.”
Nelsen says ideas range from a long term plan to build a light rail between Hanford and Visalia along the existing rail corridor or some sort of dedicated shuttle bus.The matter will be discussed at the next TCAG meeting.