In November, Kansas City Southern (KCS) achieved record daily average grain carloads, exceeding the previous record for daily average grain carloads set in October 2021.
KCS achieved this record by delivering all-time low cross-border grain shuttle train cycle times.
“These grain milestones are the result of continuous improvement initiatives and an intense focus on our service,” says John Orr, KCS executive vice president operations.
“They are the result of months of challenging our historic processes and engaging at a deeper level to improve our customer value proposition.”
Michael Naatz, KCS executive vice president and chief marketing officer, says their grain customers have benefitted from improved equipment availability and cycle times, better positioning them to win in their markets.
KCS’ rail lines receive and originate shipments of grain and grain products for delivery to a variety of consumers in the U.S. and Mexico. KCS’ cross-border grain shipments represent some of the longest lengths of haul on the network, originating in the midwestern U.S. states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska and moving into central and southern Mexico.
An intense cross-functional focus on customer service and operational performance is driving near record velocity and dwell performance at KCS.
These improvements in performance metrics benefit grain customers, as well as KCS’ customers in all other sectors.
