With a planned Dec. 2 rollout for Phase Two, Kansas City Southern de Mexico will consolidate trains, move certain Laredo, Texas, terminal work to the Mexican side of the border, and mix intermodal with manifest trains, KCS officials say.
Phase One of the PSR effort includes reducing interim stops and moving train blocking to the south.
Among implementations in Phase Two, northbound trains heading to Laredo that originate in Mexico City and in Escobedo and Queretaro, which are northwest of Mexico City, are being consolidated from three dedicated trains to two.
Originating in Mexico City and Queretaro, the consolidated trains are expected to provide a transit reduction of from 6 to 12 hours, according to KCS officials.
Further consolidation of trains will result in direct service of southbound cross-border manifests into the area of Saltillo, about 175 miles south of the border, including Santa Maria and Rojas.
That service will originate on the Mexican side of the border, at the Sanchez yard, near Nuevo Laredo, instead of at Laredo, and terminate in Benjamin Mendez, near Monterrey, about 130 miles south of the border.
Southbound cross-border traffic from Laredo, including intermodal, to San Luis Potosi – about halfway between the border and Mexico City — will be consolidated with general-purpose trains and will originate at Sanchez yard.
Southbound manifest and intermodal traffic to Toluca, just west of Mexico City, will be consolidated into a general-purpose train and frequency will increase from five to seven days per week.
Southbound local trains between Escobedo and Mexico City will only do pickups; northbound local trains will only do set-offs, reducing transit times by 30 to 60 minutes, KCS officials say.
They also say PSR changes on KCSM are “with the goal of achieving improved service through greater fluidity.”
Phase Three of PSR is tentatively scheduled for January 2020.
KCS adopted PSR about a year ago and in April applied it to intermodal service to Laredo.
It’ll worko just greato as long as protesters or bandits aren’t blocking the tracks.
Ai chihuahua!
A match made in heaven!