By Oscar del Cueto President
Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM) has been operating in the country since 1997. Today we transport almost 30% of the load moved by train nationwide.
For 24 years, KCSM has contributed on making Mexico an efficient and competitive market. The freight transport operations carried out daily have strengthened national and international trade, in addition, they impulse economic growth in regions by job creation and maintaining constant investments.
“This year we celebrate our 24th anniversary, we have achieved the consolidation of freight transportation by rail and contributed on making Mexico a relevant market in cross-border trade”, says Oscar Del Cueto, president of KCSM.
KCSM has invested more than 4 billion USD, mainly in infrastructure. We understand the importance of the freight transportation in Mexico, which is the support of many industries that have pushed the economy in the country. This is one of the main reasons we will continue investing to make our services more efficient.
What we move
KCSM’s rail network is made up of 4,251 kilometers of track and crosses 15 states of the country; it connects with the ports of Lázaro Cárdenas, Altamira, Tampico, and Veracruz, which allows a better commercial exchange with other continents.
We operate three intermodal terminals that provide service to all types of companies.
The goods that are transported by the KCSM railways represent various sectors, the main ones being agriculture and minerals, automotive, chemicals and hydrocarbons, energy, industrial and consumer products.
Rolling Pipeline
The transportation of hydrocarbons represents a significant percentage of the total units moved by KCSM each year.
Today KCSM transports about 67% of the total hydrocarbon imports made by rail in the coun- try. In 2019, we invested in the operation of three storage terminals in San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, and Nuevo León, which has allowed us to provide a more efficient and faster service.
Capacity, efficiency, and security are key elements that have made the company the best option for the transportation of hydrocarbons. One unit train carries between 90 and 96 tank cars, which transport around 65 thousand barrels of hydrocarbons.
KCSM uses the Precision Schedule Railroading (PSR)
For more than one year, KCSM has been working with the Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) system. This innovation in freight transport was made to generate fluency and speed in the rail network, thus increasing the safety and efficiency of large volume freight transportation over long distances, mainly con the border with the United States.
In this way, we focus on operating a precise programming and execution of train schedules to avoid delays and waiting, this allows us to offer a reliable and consistent service, always guaranteeing discipline and safety for our clients.
Working for a better cross-border service
One of the challenges we have as an industry is to speed up the cross-border service. In this sense, at KCSM we have investment projects underway to facilitate border transit.
We are building a rail bridge in Nuevo Laredo. A new section of single track, next to the current KCS bridge on the Laredo side. This work will improve the movement of cross-border rail traffic.
We also have international crews on both sides of the border that help speed up the immigration process at the border with the United States.
Security in our rail network for a cross-border service
Certainly, one of the pillars of freight transport by rail is safety. At KCSM we have highly trained employees, as well as innovative systems and cutting-edge technology that allow coordinated logistics.
According to the latest reports we have, accident by incidents or theft have decreased considerably.
The freight transport operations are safe, therefore they have strengthened national and international trade, as well as impulse economic growth in regions by job creation and maintaining constant investments.
Control and Monitoring Center (C4)
KCSM has a C4 in Monterrey that allows monitoring of trains, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The safety in the KCSM rail system has been strengthened though:
1) Constant diligence.
2) Security Filter Audit Combined technology with human capital.
3) Safety filtering combined with the design of the rail service.
4) Counterintelligence Program.
5) Constant safety analysis for prevention, detection and deterrence, legal team to support complaints.
Cooperation and coordination plans have been established with the authorities of the three levels of government in México to create preventive measures and immediate attention in case of risks to the population, employees, or load.
Sustainable transportation
For Kansas City Southern de México, responsible business practices are a fundamental part of our values and culture.
We are committed to the environmental care and very aware of the need to continue promoting actions that generate a lower carbon footprint, and consequently a reduction in polluting emissions in each ride we make.
That is why we work to minimize environmental impact and improve efficiency throughout the supply chain.
The company has the most modern fleet of locomotives that work with a hybrid system, this means that they work with a combination of internal combustion engines that work with ultra-low sulfur diesel and with electric motors together (diesel electric locomotives).
These types of machines are friendly to the environment and only emit 0.08% of gases, thanks to the type of combustion.
Within the KCSM fleet there are also other types of locomotives called Tier 4, which do not emit gases.
Influence of the railroad in the T-MEC
Throughout the years, freight rail has proven to be a safe and efficient transport, especially over long distances and with high volumes of cargo. In Mexico, it has contributed to the economic development of regions in different states of the country.
KCSM consider the railroad as the backbone for the country’s foreign trade since it has become the pillar of many sectors for the transfer of products and goods from one continent to another. In 2020, 125 million tons were transported, which was a positive figure because despite being an atypical year due to the arrival of the pandemic, good results were achieved.
The strategic position that KCSM has is highly relevant for the T-MEC since it has the shortest route from the Pacific to the East Coast of the United States, which allows Mexico to strengthen its commercial relations with this country.
The T-MEC, an opportunity for Mexico
At KCSM we have a highly integrated freight rail network for the North American region, which crosses the industrial heart of Mexico and connects efficiently with Asian markets through the different logistics centers of the country.
Mexico is a logistics platform to serve the United States and Canada, these three countries make up a very relevant commercial block for the markets of different regions and continents.
The railway is the complement of international transit and the T-MEC facilitates the movement of goods between the three partner countries. The intermodal mobility allows it to be a complementary transport to maritime.
KCSM invests in border projects in Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo to increase cargo volume capacity and support the growth of different industries. The objective of these investments is to speed up the route of the trains in tune with the T-MEC.
The North American Railroad: KCS-CP combination
We are in a very interesting process together with Canadian Pacific Railway to achieve the creation of a railway that can serve the three countries that make up the T-MEC commercial bloc.
“We expect that soon we will be able to count with the largest rail network in the region in which the three countries that make up the T-MEC will be connected, which will increase competition and will offer new options and services for carriers. For Mexico, it is a great opportunity to think about an integration to serve the entire North American region. We aim for the creation of the North American Railway”, says Pat Ottesmeyer, president and CEO of KCS.
Completely committedto Mexico
KCSM is constantly working in the benefit of Mexico, we set ourselves the objective of supporting Mexican society. The railroad has been a key part of Mexico’s economic recovery through the import and export of goods, as since the pandemic began, it was classified as an essential activity, so the movement of trains on the tracks has not stopped.
KCSM has made charitable donations in states with impact on the communities we serve and where our employees live and work. In Mexico, we donated $350,000 pesos worth of medical equipment to state governments to support local hospitals.
Elsewhere, for 11 years KCSM has promoted the work of hundreds of Mexican creators through the sponsorship that year after year we provide to the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). For us it is a pride to contribute to such an important event for cinema that inspires an artistic dialogue at an international level with a great social impact.
Additionally, we recently announced our collaboration with Monarch Joint Venture, an organization that works to conserve the migration of the Monarch butterfly, since our rail network accompanies the migratory route of the Monarch butterflies in Mexico.
