(Kansas City Southern issued the following news release on September 1.)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Southern (KCS) announced that as of 10:00 p.m. CDT last night, August 31, The Kansas City Southern Railway Company’s (KCSR) Meridian Speedway line between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La., is open and operating. The reopening was made possible by the clearing of hundreds of downed trees and other obstructions to the main line between Meridian and Brandon, Miss., caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Reopening of the Meridian Speedway has made possible the restoration of rail service to existing KCSR customers and traffic. Currently, KCSR has an agreement with Norfolk Southern (NS) to use the line as a bridge for NS intermodal traffic between Meridian and Alliance, Texas. All of this service has now been re-established, but as a result of the closure of the line in the aftermath of the hurricane, additional traffic is anticipated as backlogged traffic is cleared out.
In addition, KCSR has engaged in numerous bilateral discussions with other area rail carriers whose service was affected by Hurricane Katrina. KCSR is working voluntarily with these carriers to find the best alternative ways to route rail traffic in the Gulf Coast region to compensate for the loss of their important rail facilities. KCSR is working with CSX and the Meridian & Bigbee Railway to divert non-intermodal traffic from New Orleans and Birmingham, Ala., to Meridian. Voluntary bilateral cooperation among Class I and other carriers to address service outages caused by Hurricane Katrina will result in the quickest restoration of service for shippers.
Since the beginning of 2004, KCSR has made substantial capital investments to expand the capacity of the Meridian Speedway. More capital has been invested in KCSR’s infrastructure in Mississippi in recent years than any other state on the system.
While these capital investments have expanded capacity along the line, traffic volumes are very high and it may be several weeks before traffic volumes return to normal. In the meantime, KCSR will continue to work with other railroads on a bilateral basis to identify the best alternative route solutions around hurricane-damaged rail facilities so as to restore the greatest degree of rail service possible in Mississippi and Louisiana as quickly as possible.
On August 29, KCSR embargoed the stations of Gramercy, Reserve, Norco and New Orleans, La., on the line between Shreveport and New Orleans. The line has been cleared as far south as Frellsen, but the embargo remains until electric utilities are restored to customers on the line.
On August 29, KCSR also embargoed the Delisle and Gulfport, Miss., stations. While KCSR’s line from Palmer to Delisle and Gulfport could be reopened, the Canadian National (CN) line connecting KCSR from Jackson to Palmer is out of service. Additionally, because Gulfport was the hardest hit, there may not be customers operating there to serve.
On August 31, KCSR added the Mobile, Ala., Waynesboro, Quitman and Enterprise, Miss., stations to the embargo.
KCSR has been posting service status updates at www.kcsi.com daily since August 29. These updates can be found on a link from the home page labeled “Service Status Updates Regarding Hurricane Katrina.”
KCS is a transportation holding company that has railroad investments in the United States, Mexico and Panama. Its primary domestic holdings include KCSR and The Texas Mexican Railway Company. Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., KCS serves customers in the central and south central regions of the United States. KCS’ rail holdings and investments, including TFM, S.A. de C.V., are primary components of a NAFTA Railway system that links the commercial and industrial centers of the United States, Canada and Mexico.