A friend in the RR industry was noting something to me. He's heard mention that KCS is now really financially extended. (Deeply in debt?) Anyone heard something similar? Boxcab E50
Well, as long as they can service their debt, that should not be a problem. It also helps to make them an unattractive merger target. They do that a lot in the oil industry on purpose. You kind of walk a fine line between sliding into bankruptcy and becoming a ripe plumb for picking. Strange how corporate America works.
Seeing as how they finished acquiring TFM, I'm not surprised.....getting a route from Chcago to Mexico cost some heavy coin/mucho dinero/big bucks. I haven't heard anything about their debt load, even on the KCSNotes Yahoo group.
me too bob, i figured that it would have showed up there already..... i hope they do manage to stay afloat and keep from getting picked off by the borg or the beansniffers beast
I asked this fellow what he meant. (He's a corporate bean counter. Not with KCS.) He said it was their long term debt that has him wondering. Boxcab E50
My two cents... My understanding from the train magazines is that KCS itself is in good shape. Parent company KCSI is in debt due to the purchase of TFM, and the debt issues with that company. In my perspective KCS is in the "cat-bird's" seat of railroads right now. I had heard that the Japanese were building a new port facility on the west coast of Mexico, and TFM connects to it. This would place KCS in the enviable position of being able to move intermodal traffic into the central and eastern US while avoiding the messes in Long Beach and other west coast ports. They still have to deal with customs issues, but I think that could be solved fairly efficiently, if they so choose. My scenario (from the "what I'd like to see happen" department) would be KCS would get it's act together with TFM and this ability to transport goods across from Mexico, and then Norfolk Southern would buy them (being NS is the strongest of the US Class 1s financially, and has been historically). This would allow NS to move container traffic to its' eastern destinations without dealing with BNSF or Useless Pathetic. However, I hear from a KCS crewman that BNSF is doing a large amount of their paperwork. This could be an early sign of merger down the road, though I hope not. I see KCS and BNSF as having too many competing routes in the central US, though it would essentially push BNSF's rail network east to Mississippi in the south, joining directly with NS and CSX at that point. KCS already acts as a bridge between NS in Atlanta/Birmingham to BNSF in Alliance (Ft. Worth), Texas, operating intermodal trains over their Meridian/Shreveport/Wylie subs (or whatever division that is for KCS). KCS is going to be bought at some point... The question is when, and by who? Go Norfolk Southern! I'd like to see more Thoroghbreds running around Dallas Adam
KCS Must Be Doing Pretty Good.I Read In Railfan&Railroad That They JUst Bought The "American Limited"Excursion In Saint Louis and Are Gonna Repaint It In Their "Southern Belle"Scheme and Use It On Their South of the Border Operations.By The Way,Why Doesn't KCS Do Like UP Does And Offer Excursion Trips Or At Least Bring It To The Different Towns And Let Fans Look At It??
