Mexican railway operators to invest $242.6 million in 2010

Mexico's two main private railway operators, Ferromex and Kansas City Southern de Mexico, or KCSM, plan to invest a combined $242.6 million this year in infrastructure and other projects.

Ferromex, a unit of
mining and railroad concern Grupo Mexico, said in a statement that it expects
to invest $121.6 million in infrastructure upgrades and development of a rail
yard at Rio Escondido, in northern Coahuila state, to speed up movements at the
Piedras Negras-Eagle Pass border crossing. Ferromex said it invested close to
$100 million in 2009.

KCSM, the Mexico unit of
Kansas City Southern, which operates the Laredo- Nuevo Laredo crossing, said in
a separate statement that it plans to invest $121 million this year, including
$80 million in infrastructure upgrades.

KCSM said additional
investments would be made in longer-term, multi-annual projects that include a
new terminal at the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas and cross-border bridges at
Laredo-Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros, which lies across the U.S. border from
Brownsville.

Ferromex said it
transported 5.1 percent less cargo in 2009 than in 2008 as a result of the
recession, while its sales in peso terms rose three percent.