Norfolk Southern Railway and Kansas City Southern Railway have partnered to offer TMX, a new 53-foot rail-controlled container program between the U.S. and Mexico.

The dedicated route will run between KCS's intermodal facilities at Puerta Mexico (Toluca), San Luis Potos and Salinas Victoria (Monterrey) in Mexico and NS's intermodal facilities in Atlanta, Ga., and Charlotte, N.C.

Currently, the U.S.-Mexico market is controlled mostly by trucking, but DC Velocity reports that KCS is hoping to shift freight from highways onto the rails.

Patrick Ottensmeyer, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for KCS, told DC Velocity that "between 2.5 million and 3 million truckloads annually move across the border over lanes that this railroad serves. Of those, about 40% exhibit the characteristics -- namely a truckload move of 800 to 1,000 miles or more -- that would make those loads viable for intermodal diversion."

Ottensmeyer said KCS has talked to trucking and intermodal companies that are "very interested in the opportunities here."

For more information, go to www.nscorp.com or www.kcsouthern.com/.