The King City Multimodal Transportation Center project will re-establish a passenger rail station for the Amtrak Coast Starlight and the planned Coast Daylight train service. A new platform, track improvements, and connecting regional and intercity bus facilities will bring multimodal connectivity to the Army Fort Hunter Liggett and the region.

The King City Multimodal Transportation Center project will construct a train platform; build a parking lot for transit connections, passenger drop-off and loading zone, and a staging area for soldiers training at the US Army Garrison Fort Hunter Liggett Base (FHL); relocate an at-grade road crossing of the tracks; make bicycle and pedestrian improvements; realign tracks, extend a rail siding, and make other relevant upgrades to the tracks.

The project will address the following critical challenges:

• Limited choice of affordable and accessible long-distance transportation options.
• Excessive Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) into the environment from single occupancy vehicles traveling between San Diego and San Francisco.
• High housing cost burden including high costs of housing and overcrowding.
• Reduce the Army’s cost to transport soldiers training at FHL.

King City’s residents and workforce have remarkably long commutes, with more than a third traveling at least 50 miles in each direction. Some options for bus travel exist, but most commuters use private automobiles. The current transportation options at FHL are very limited. FHL is approximately one hour away from current rail stations, Salinas to the north or Paso Robles to the south. The movement of people to and from FHL is substantial, with approximately 50,000 troops annually. This situation has forced FHL troops to be transported in small groups and individually, which is neither cost efficient nor environmentally sustainable.

The project provides a stop for the exiting Amtrak Coast Starlight intercity train service between Seattle and Los Angeles as well as a future stop for the planned Coast Daylight passenger service between San Luis Obispo and San Jose. This would be a new intercity rail route to supplement the Coast Starlight and fill a gap in rail services on the Central Coast of California. The King City station project will make track improvements and thus ease freight rail movement on Union Pacific tracks.

For more information:

King City Transportation Planning Website