But for the manager, the growth potential doesn’t stop there. An additional part could come from the acquisition of Kansas City Southern by Canadian Pacificwhich is still pending approval by the American Surface Transportation Board (STB).
The second component of growth is expected to come from two investment projects: the railway bridge between Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and Laredo, in Texas; and the Celaya bypasswhich seeks to boost the movement in a section that, to date, intersects with Ferromex’s operations.
“San Luis Potosí is the central distribution point,” explained Del Cueto in a meeting with the media. “You can connect Laredo with Tampico through two branches.”
At the same time, KCSM hopes to start a unit dedicated to transporting refrigerated load in the second half of this year, with investments from an American company of which the manager did not give more details.
Other opportunities look less sharp, but converge with some of the big federal projects.
This is the case of Ferrovalle, a company where both KCSM and Ferromex and the federal government have a stake, where material is currently transported for the Mayan Train and the Interoceanic Trainand that could also help ease the burden of AIFA, at a time when the federal government seeks to relocate the operations of cargo from Mexico City International Airport (AICM).
“Currently there is a capacity of four trains a day, but up to 14 trains a day can easily enter,” the manager said about the company’s capacity in the branch to AIFA, which already has tracks that enter the military area of the airport. “We would have to move large volumes,” he added of a potentially profitable operation.
Del Cueto also assured that the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) has a goal to increase from 26% to 40% the total national cargo that moves by train.
For this, the company sees it necessary to increase its capacity in containers, but the sector would need an “even floor” with respect to the motor transport segment, which could preferably translate into the accreditation of the Special Tax on Production and Services (IEPS) in diesel.
