(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on June 1, 2009.)
Last month, Kansas City Southern Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mike Haverty and Kansas City Southern de México S.A. de C.V. (KCSM) President and Executive Representative Jose Zozaya met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and other Mexican officials to discuss public/private partnerships aimed at improving rail infrastructure and the resolution of trackage rights issues.
Haverty and Zozaya asked the government to help improve the Mexican rail network through projects that provide public benefits instead of those that support special interests. For example, the network needs road overpasses and underpasses in congested metropolitan areas, and bypasses affecting such cities as Monterrey, San Luis Potosi, Celaya and Morelia, they said.
Although Mexico’s railroads have spent billions of dollars on track, technology, signal systems, locomotives and cars to make their systems more efficient, metropolitan congestion is keeping the railroads from being more efficient and safe, Haverty and Zozaya said.
Investing public money in rail improvements would make Mexico more competitive by enhancing the rail network’s efficiency, boosting demand for concrete and creating jobs, they believe.
In terms of trackage rights, Haverty and Zozaya stressed that KCSM is not responsible for a delay in the implementation of trackage rights. They agreed with Calderon that trackage rights must be resolved in order to make Mexico more competitive in the global economy.