Written by: Ricardo Castillo Mireles | June 2005
After years of law suits, the NAFTA railroad now runs from Mexico into the U.S.After eight years of legal conflicts, the NAFTA Railroad has finally gotten underway thanks to the consolidation of three railroad companies: Kansas City Southern (KCS), the Texas-Mexico Railway Company (Tex-Mex) and Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM). Together they have created an integrated intermodal corridor between the Mexican west coast port of Lazaro Cardenas and Kansas City — a corridor that directly connects Asia to the U.S. via Mexico.
A little historical perspective: This opportunity for KCS came about in 1997 when the Mexican government divested itself of TFM, awarding it to Mexico's Transportacion Maritima Mexicana (TMM), a Mexican logistics operator that fell into financial dire straits by over-bidding by some $600 million on the purchase of TFM.
KCS soon became a shareholder of TFM, infusing it with state-of-the-art technology in order to modernize the 110-year-old railroad, which had fallen into disarray under Mexican government management.....
Gee, I'm so surprised.....NOT!
Sounds like something we really need!