NUEVO LAREDO, TAMAULIPAS.- Kansas City Southern will build a $75 million bridge that will double its capacity for shipments in and out of Mexico.
The head of the company’s Mexican rail operation said work on the bridge at the Laredo, Texas, is to begin in the fourth quarter, FreightWaves reports. KC Southern currently runs about 26 trains a day over the bridge, changing directions for traffic in four-hour windows, Kansas City Southern de Mexico President Oscar Del Cueto Cuevas said at a Thursday business event.
KC Southern has based much of its growth on its ability to move freight to and from Mexico. The company has concessions from the Mexican government to operate a rail line from the Nuevo Laredo area to the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas.
This Mexican link becomes bigger when combined with the network of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. The Canadian railway purchased KC Southern for $31 billion in December, but is working for approval from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to merge operations.
The combined operation, to be named Canadian Pacific Kansas City,
will be a true transcontinental railway. It will stretch across Canada, through the middle of the U.S. and through Mexico.
The Surface Transportation Board is scheduled to hold public hearings on the Canadian Pacific-KC Southern combination Sept. 28, 29 and 30 in Washington. The board will hold a series of smaller hearings in September — including a Sept. 14 hearing in Excelsior Springs — seeking comment on an environmental analysis of the deal.
A draft analysis estimates the combination would increase traffic through Kansas City by 14.4 trains a day — to an average of roughly 30.5.
Source: FreightWaves
