Kansas City Southern Railway
EMD SD70ACe | |
Overview | |
---|---|
Parent company | Kansas City Southern |
Headquarters | Kansas City, Missouri |
Reporting mark | KCS |
Locale | Midwestern and Southeastern United States |
Founder | Arthur Stillwell |
Dates of operation | 1887–2023 |
Predecessor | standard gauge |
Length | 3,984 miles (6,412 km) |
Other | |
Website | kcsouthern.com |
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (
The focus of the routes was the fastest way to connect Kansas City to salt water ports (it was 800 miles from Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico compared to 1,400 miles between Kansas City and the Atlantic Ocean ports.[1]
KCS operated over a railroad system consisting of 3,984 route miles (6,412 km) that extend south to the Mexico–United States border at which point another KCS-operated railroad, Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM), hauls freight into northeastern and central Mexico and to several Gulf of Mexico ports and the Pacific Port of Lázaro Cárdenas.
Canadian Pacific Railway purchased KCS in December 2021 for US$31 billion. On April 14, 2023, the railroads were merged to form Canadian Pacific Kansas City,[2] the first and only to directly serve Canada, Mexico and the United States.
History
Origins (1887–1900)
Arthur Stilwell began construction on the first line of what would eventually become the Kansas City Southern Railway in 1887, in suburban
In 1897, Stilwell completed the
In 1900, KCP&G was taken over by the Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS).[4]
By 1914, the KCS owned the separate entities of the Arkansas Western Railway Company, Fort Smith & Van Buren Railway Company, Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Railway Company, the Kansas City, Shreveport & Gulf Terminal Company, the Maywood & Sugar Creek Railway Company, the Port Arthur Canal & Dock Company, the Poteau Valley Railroad Company, the Texarkana & Fort Smith Railway Company, the Arkansas Western Railway Company, the Glenn Pool Tank Line Company, the Joplin Union Depot Company, the Kansas City Terminal Railway Company, and the K. C. S. Elevator Company.[5]
20th century (1900–2000)
In 1962, Kansas City Southern Industries, Inc. (KCSI) was established when the company began to diversify its interests into other industries. At that time, KCS became a subsidiary of KCSI. In 2002, KCSI formally changed its name to Kansas City Southern (KCS), with KCS remaining a subsidiary.
From 1940 to 1969, the Kansas City Southern operated two primary passenger trains, the Flying Crow (Trains #15 & 16) between Kansas City and Port Arthur (discontinued on May 11, 1968) and the
Access to Mexico
in 1996 Kansas City Southern Industries purchased a Mexican government concession to operate trains on a rail system in Mexico. This was due to the privatization of the Mexican railways which were losing money, had fallen into a state of disrepair, and needed expensive infrastructure upgrading to become profitable. The concession was to operate the 5,335-kilometer (3,315 mi) "Northeast Railroad" connecting Monterrey and Mexico City with a US port of entry at Laredo, Texas and seaports at Lázaro Cárdenas and Veracruz. This potentially very profitable concession was hotly bid on by many major companies, including the very large Union Pacific Railroad. Thie Northeast Railroad tracks carried 46% of all rail traffic in Mexico and 60% of all freight coming from and to the United States. Eleven of fourteen of Mexico's auto assembly plants, plus two more under construction, are located on this line. Auto and parts freight traffic accounted for 9% of the 2012 total carloads. [8]
21st century (2000–2023)
On March 21, 2021, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) announced that it was purchasing KCS for US$29 billion. Prior, a competing cash and stock offer was made by Canadian National Railway (CN) on April 20, 2021 at $33.7 billion.[9] On May 13, 2021, KCS announced in a statement that they planned to accept the higher offer from CN, but would give CP until May 21 to come up with a higher bid, which was not made.[10] However, CN's merger attempt would be blocked by a STB ruling in August 2021 that the company could not use a voting trust to assume control of KCS, due to concerns about potentially reduced competition in the railroad industry.[11]
On September 12, 2021, KCS accepted a new $31 billion offer from CP. Though CP's offer was lower than the offer made by CN, the STB permitted CP to use a voting trust to take control of KCS.[11] The voting trust allowed CP to become the beneficial owner of KCS in December 2021, but the two railroads operated independently until receiving approval for a merger of operations from the STB.[12][13] That approval came on March 15, 2023, which permitted the railroads to merge as soon as April 14, 2023.[14][15]
Operations
KCS hauls freight for seven major government and business sectors: agriculture and minerals, military, automotive, chemical and petroleum, energy, industrial and consumer products and intermodal.[citation needed]
KCS has the shortest north-south rail route between
The company owns or contracts with
KCS operates over a railroad system consisting of 3,984 route miles (6,412 km)
Corporate structure
Kansas City Southern Railway was owned by Kansas City Southern, known as Kansas City Southern Industries until 2002, which in turn also owned other companies like Kansas City Southern de México and the Panama Canal Railway's operator, Panama Canal Railway Company.
Bibliography
- Kansas City Southern History (2008), History of the Kansas City Southern Railway. Retrieved July 7, 2008.
- "Kansas City Southern Color Pictorial", Steve Allen Goen, 1999
References
- ^ "Collection: Records of the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railroad Company | Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections".
- ^ Reynolds, Christopher (April 14, 2023). "CP Rail, Kansas City Southern merger clears path for more cargo, but hitches remain". CBC News. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
- ^ Strouse, L.K. (January 1924). Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Vol. 75. United States. Interstate Commerce Commission. pp. 275–292. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
- ^ Group, Karl Bernard & the Rhombus. "SAGA OF KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN LINES". www.kcshs.org. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ Strouse, L.K. (January 1924). Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Vol. 75. United States. Interstate Commerce Commission. p. 288. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
- ^ Kansas City Southern (July 2005). "Southern Belle". Kansas City Southern Lines. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2008.
- ^ "'Holiday Express' sets stop, to aid needy". Daily Times Leader. September 10, 2018. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
- ^ Heaster, Randolph (December 6, 2005). "Kansas City Southern Railroad Has A New Name". Kansas City Star, 2005-12-06
- ^ "CN steps up with $33B offer for Kansas City Southern, besting CP's $25B bid". CBC News. April 20, 2021.
- ^ Black, Thomas; Porter, Kiel; Deveau, Scott (May 13, 2021). "CN Rail Is Close to $33 Billion Deal for K.C. Southern". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ a b "Kansas City Southern picks Canadian Pacific's $31 billion bid for railroad". CNBC. September 12, 2021. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
- ^ Kaberline, Brian (March 16, 2021). "Regulator orders pause in consideration of Canadian Pacific-KC Southern merger". Retrieved July 4, 2022.
- ^ "The great train takeover - FT Big Deal". Financial Tribune. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
- ^ Franz, Justin (March 15, 2023). "LIVE UPDATES: Regulators Approve CP-KCS Merger". Railfan & Railroad Magazine. Retrieved March 15, 2023.
- ^ "Regulators approve Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger (updated)". Trains. March 15, 2023. Retrieved March 15, 2023.
- ^ "Kansas City Southern 2017 Annual Report" (PDF).
- ^ "Kansas City Southern Network Map".
- ^ https://www.kcsouthern.com/pdf/community/kcs-sustainability-data-2021.pdf?language_id=1 [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Bryk, William (April 21, 2001). "An Eccentric Railroad Promoter's Vision of Mexico". Straus Media. Retrieved February 12, 2019.