KCS: Damage delays service resumption

Kansas City Southern announced late Tuesday that restoration of cross-border service on Kansas City Southern de Mexico’s Nuevo Laredo-Monterrey Mainline will be delayed by severe damage to a key bridge caused by flood waters spawned by Hurricane Alex.

KCS said that “as water receded at the Anahuac Bridge on the KCSM line between Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey in Nuevo Leon on Sunday, bridge inspections revealed significant damage to its approaches from a surge of debris. As a result of this damage, it will be a matter of a few weeks, without further complications, before service can be restored over the Anahuac Bridge.”

KCS and KCSM are working with Union Pacific and Ferrocarril Mexicano to reroute trains over the Brownsville/Matamoros and Eagle Pass crossings “as capacity permits.”

“As the water receded below the track level, we were able to determine more clearly the extent of the damage done to the Anahuac Bridge approaches by the surge of debris,” said David Starling, KCS president and chief operating officer. “I have just returned from a personal inspection of the bridge and damage done resulting from Hurricane Alex. We believe it will be a matter of a few weeks before we can make the bridge operational again if there are no further complications. We have Mexican and U.S. personnel on site and have deployed reconstruction resources with more on the way. Reopening of the KCSM Nuevo Laredo-Monterrey mainline is our highest company priority and we are deploying our resources accordingly.”

Starling noted that service in northern Mexico has been disrupted for all carriers. And highways have been severely damaged as a result of the hurricane, which made landfall on June 30.