County, city officials embrace new station, despite rail-line doubts

Members of the Madera County Board of Supervisors and Madera City Council have come forward to support the addition of a connecting station for the High-Speed Rail in Madera, despite their opposition to the rail project itself.

The station was approved in the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s 2016 Business Plan, which was adopted on April 28.

At a press conference held at the Madera Amtrak station, the future site of the High-Speed Rail connection station, Madera County Board of Supervisors Chairman Rick Farinelli expressed his doubts about the statewide project: “I’m one of the ones that has been opposed to the high-speed rail since its inception,” Farinelli said. “I feel that the new oversight committee will find a lot of things that I hope they repair.”

However, Farinelli said, he also has been hopeful that Madera can benefit from the situation economically, and congratulated the committee that worked to open a station in Madera...