may require cleanup to meet wikipedia s quality standards . no cleanup reason has been specified . please help improve this article if you can . december 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message the kansas city southern railway company system map trackage rights in purple a kansas city train emd sd50 on the point of a train headed north to oceanside . reporting mark kcs locale midwest united states gulf of mexico dates of operation 1887 1887 present predecessor kansas city pittsburg and gulf railroad track gauge 4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gauge length 3 226 mi 5 192 km headquarters kansas city missouri a new 2008 kcs es44ac sits in siding in pittsburg ks . kcs sd50 7000 was once a main line locomotive but now works as a switcher . the southern belle fp9a number two along with a b unit and another cab unit travels on the kcs line . tfm locomotive 1631 travels over track near monterrey m xico . a panama canal railway locomotive sits in a station at col n panama . kcs headquarters kansas city missouri . the kansas city southern railway company reporting mark kcs owned by kansas city southern is the smallest and third oldest class i railroad in north america just behind union pacific railroad and canadian pacific railway still in operation . citation needed kcs was founded in 1887 and is currently operating in a region consisting of ten central u.s. states . kcs also owns and indirectly operates kansas city southern de m xico kcsm in the central and northeastern states of m xico and is the only class i railroad to own any track both inside and outside of mexico s boundaries ferromex is the only other class i operating in mexico . including all trackage owned by wholly owned subsidiaries kcs owns a total of approximately 9 600 kilometers 6 000 route miles of track . 1 kansas city southern is headquartered in kansas city missouri . annual revenues as of 2007 update were us 1.7 billion with 6 485 employees and a market cap of roughly us 5 billion . 2 as of first quarter 2008 update kcs s ceo was michael r. haverty . as of august 1 2010 dave starling was named the new ceo of kcs having been both a close friend of haverty and an important spokesperson to the railroad since 2008 . 3 4 kansas city southern company stock trades on the new york stock exchange under the symbol ksu . contents 1 subsidiaries 2 history 3 awards and recognition 4 pop culture 5 company officers 6 see also 7 notes 8 references 9 external links subsidiaries edit gateway eastern railway company gwer is a wholly owned subsidiary of kcs . gwer provides rail service over approximately 17 miles 27 km of track in the east st. louis illinois area . 1 kansas city southern de m xico kcsm formerly transportaci n ferroviaria mexicana tfm is the name of a company dedicated to freight transportation using rail in the north eastern part of mexico . kcsm is indirectly owned and operated by kansas city southern industries via nafta rail s.a. de c.v. kcsm owns its own fleet and the rights to operate and maintain a rail system through a concession from the mexican government . kcsm s rail system consists of 4 235 km 2 645 track miles in a 17 state region including the federal district which serves northeastern and central mexico and the port cities of l zaro c rdenas and tampico among others . kcsm provides kcs with key routes for handling goods imported into north america . it also has a pacific coast route to the recently developed deepwater container port of l zaro c rdenas . 5 kansas city southern railway kcsr operates 5 165 km 3 226 track miles in a 10 state region of the united states with major hubs including kansas city mo shreveport la new orleans la and dallas tx . among the class i railroads kcsr has the shortest route between kansas city the second largest rail hub in the country and the gulf of mexico . 1 meridian speedway llc msllc is a majority owned consolidated subsidiary that owns the former kcsr rail line between meridian mississippi and shreveport louisiana which is a portion of the kcsr rail route between dallas texas and meridian and is known as the meridian speedway . norfolk southern corporation ns through its wholly owned subsidiary the alabama great southern railroad owns a minority interest in msllc . 1 nafta rail s.a. de c.v. is the holding company for kcsm because at the time kcs purchased kcsm when the mexican government would not allow a foreign entity to directly own a mexican railroad . kcs created this mexican corporation as a holding company for kcs ownership in kcsm . nafta rail is wholly owned by caymex transportation inc. which is owned by kcs . 1 southern capital development and industrial services companies the southern capital company consists of bulk storage facilities complete with ocean terminals pabtex along with a tie and timber plant trans serve inc. also known as superior tie and timber . the southern development company is a holding company that owns various properties . the southern capital corporation llc is a leasing company owned jointly by kcsr and gatx capital corporation of san francisco california southern capital corporation has the rail assets that once belonged to carland and kcsr as well as the loan portfolio once owned by southern leasing corporation . 1 the panama canal railway company pcrc is jointly owned by kcs and panama holdings llc of hazel crest illinois . pcrc provides ocean to ocean transshipment service between the atlantic and pacific oceans . the 47.6 mile 76.6 km railroad serves as an efficient intermodal line for world commerce and complements the existing transportation infrastructure provided by the canal the col n free trade zone and the pacific and atlantic ports . pcrc s wholly owned subsidiary panarail tourism offers passenger service for business commuters tourists and private charters . 1 the texas mexican railway company texmex is wholly owned by kcs . texmex consists of a 157 mile 253 km railway that connects corpus christi tx to laredo tx . texmex also owns 400 miles 640 km of union pacific trackage rights that spans from beaumont tx to robstown tx . with its trackage rights and physical railway the texas mexican railway connects kcsm and kcsr at laredo tx and beaumont tx . texmex also owns the extremely important texas mexican railway international bridge . it is the only rail bridge that connects the united states with mexico through laredo and 40 % of all rail traffic that travels to mexico crosses over this bridge . without texmex it would be nearly impossible for kcsr and kcsm to act as a single company under kansas city southern . 1 kcs also owns a handful of non core businesses . these minor subsidiaries holding companies or minority investments investments in which kcs has less than 50 percent ownership have few employees and serve to support the rail operation . these include canama transportation caymex transportation inc. rosenberg regional llc joplin union depot kansas city terminal railway port arthur bulk marine terminal co. and veals inc. 1 history edit arthur edward stilwell began construction on the first line of what would become the kansas city southern railway in 1887 in suburban kansas city missouri . together with edward l. martin stilwell built the kansas city suburban belt railway which was incorporated in 1887 and began operation in 1890 serving the argentine district in kansas city kansas ; independence missouri ; and the riverside commercial and industrial districts of kansas city . while the belt railway was a success stilwell had a much bigger dream . over the ensuing decade the line grew through construction and acquisition of other roads such as the texarkana and fort smith railway to become a through route between kansas city and port arthur texas with the final spike being driven north of beaumont texas on september 11 1897 the kansas city pittsburg and gulf railroad company kcp & g was completed . in 1939 another mainline between dallas and new orleans via shreveport louisiana was added through the acquisition of the louisiana and arkansas railway l & a . from 1940 to 1969 the kansas city southern operated two primary passenger trains the flying crow trains 15 & 16 between kansas city and port arthur discontinued on may 11 1968 and the southern belle trains 1 & 2 between kansas city and new orleans discontinued on november 2 1969 . 6 in 1940 kcs reported 1345 million net ton miles of revenue freight ; l & a had 778 million . together they operated 1760 miles of road at the end of 1940 not including arkansas western and ft smith & van buren ; at the end of 1970 kcs l & a operated 1672 miles of road on 2695 miles of track . in 1962 under the name kansas city southern industries inc. kcsi the company was formally organized as it began to diversify its interests into other industries under the ceo william deramus iii . the new kcsi focused primarily on the financials industry along with the rail industry . in 1969 kcsi started the two largest companies that came out of the diversification dst systems and janus capital group which was known as stilwell financial at the time . 7 8 dst systems is a software development firm that specializes in information processing and management with the goal of improving efficiency productivity and customer service . 9 janus capital group is a finance firm that provides growth and risk managed investment strategies . 10 the core kcs rail system changed little until the 1990s when the purchase of midsouth rail extended kcsi s reach east from shreveport into mississippi and alabama . combined with existing kcsi routes this created an east west mainline marketed as the meridian speedway . another acquisition the gateway western railway extended kcs s reach from kansas city to st. louis missouri and springfield illinois . the 1990s also saw kcsi expand into mexico with the acquisition of partial interests in the texas mexican railway tm and grupo transportaci n ferroviaria mexicana tfm . tfm was created when kansas city southern industries and transportacion maritima mexicana tmm purchased a government concession to operate a rail system in mexico . it was the most sought after portion of the mexican railroad concessions citation needed called the northeast railroad that was purchased by kcsi and tmm . the concession was also bid on by many other major companies including the united states largest railroad union pacific railroad . kcsi and tmm bid on and won the concession for 1.4 billion usd paying 49 % and 51 % respectively . tmm already partially owned the texas mexican railway through a previous concession from the mexican government . tm was particularly important to kcsi because they held the link from kcsi tracks to tfm tracks via trackage rights over the union pacific line . shortly after acquiring the mexican government s concession kcsi entered into another joint venture to purchase a government concession . on june 19 1998 the government of panama turned over control of the panama canal railway to kansas city southern railroad and the privately held lanigan holdings llc . this created the panama canal railway company pcrc . after these large capital outputs kcsi needed new capital to improve the mexican and panamanian concessions they had purchased and to continue to make capital expenditures in the future . to build this needed capital kcsi spun off all assets that were not essential to the rail businesses . doing this essentially paid off the purchase of their two existing