Kansas City Southern (company)

Kansas City Southern (company)

Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) is the parent company of the Kansas City Southern Railway, a Class I railroad headquartered in the Quality Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It is also sometimes known as "The NAFTA Railroad" in reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement because its operations carry goods between the midwest and Mexico.

Kansas City Southern was founded in 1887 by Arthur Edward Stilwell, with the goal of connecting the U.S. heartland to the Gulf of Mexico. An early slogan for the company was "The shortest route from Kansas City to salt water." Its original network linked Kansas City with Port Arthur, Texas. Although it remained financially strong, it did not add routes until the 1930s, when it expanded to Louisiana. From 1940 to 1969, KCS offered luxury passenger service between Kansas City and New Orleans, but ceased passenger operations due to the growing popularity of auto and air travel.

KCS' next large expansion did not take place until 1993, when it purchased the MidSouth Railroad, which provided its first east-west route, connecting Dallas, Texas to Meridian, Mississippi.

Due to KCS' geographic placement, the railroad has benefited from the passage of NAFTA in 1995.

KCS also attempted to purchase the Southern Pacific Transportation Company from Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad Company, in 1988 only to be defeated by the Rio Grande's parent company Rio Grande Industries