Kansas City Southern de México
The Kansas City Southern de Mexico ( KCSM ) is a Mexican railway company. The company, which belongs to Kansas City Southern (KCS), was called Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM) until December 2005 . The railway company is based in Mexico City . The company has 3,622 employees and a fleet of 467 locomotives.
Route network
The approximately 4,280 km long own route network is located in northeast Mexico. The company also has 870 km of route usage rights. The network connects Mexico City with the border crossing with the United States in Laredo , as well as the ports of Veracruz , Tampico and Lázaro Cárdenas .
history
In 1995 the Mexican government decided to privatize the state railway company Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México . The entire network and operations were not privatized as one company, but long-term operating concessions for traffic on certain route networks were tendered. The Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana received the concession for the route network in the northeast for 50 years. The State of Mexico held a 20% stake in this company and Grupo Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (GTFM) held 80%. The latter was 38.5% owned by the Mexican Grupo TMM , 36.9% by KCS and 24.6% by the state. The new railway company began operations on June 23, 1997. With effect from July 29, 2002, Mexico sold its shares in GTFM, so that Grupo TMM held 53.4% and KCS 46.6% of the company. In the following years, the KCS tried to gain complete control over the TFM. Due to the negotiations with TMM and the Mexican state to take over the shares, resistance from the Mexican antitrust authorities and tax claims, the takeover was delayed until spring 2005. On April 1, 2005, Kansas City Southern was able to acquire TMM's shares in Grupo TFM and the State at TFM and thus gained control of the company. In December 2005 the name was changed to Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM).
After the concession was obtained, investments began in expanding the route network and the vehicle fleet. The oldest locomotives are from 1994. A large part of the fleet is built from 1995 to 1999. 78% of the route network consists of welded tracks.
