KCS

The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (reporting mark KCS) is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. KCS hauls freight for seven major government and business sectors: agriculture and minerals, military, automotive, chemical and petroleum, energy, industrial and consumer products and intermodal.

KCS has the shortest north-south rail route between Kansas City, Missouri, and several key ports along the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The KCS, along with the Union Pacific railroad, is one of only two Class I railroads based in the United States that has not originated as the result of a merger between previously separate companies; however, this status may change pending the approval of the KCS’s acquisition by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP).

The company owns or contracts with intermodal facilities along its rail network in Kansas City, Mo; Jackson, Miss.; West Monroe, La.; New Orleans; Wylie, Texas; Kendleton, Texas; and Laredo, Texas.

KCS operates over a railroad system consisting of 3,400 route miles that extend south to the Mexico–United States border at which point another KCS railroad, Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM), can haul freight into northeastern and central Mexico and to the Gulf of Mexico ports of Tampico, Altamira, and Veracruz, as well as to the Pacific Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, fulfilling the vision of KCS founder Arthur Edward Stilwell.

Patrick J. Ottensmeyer, who serves as chairman of the KCS Board of Directors, is also president and chief executive officer of the railroad's parent company, Kansas City Southern.