mikep758
Bottleneck
The head end of northbound UP freight is on the US side of the border with an American crew on board. They are beginning to make the slow pull through the US Customs and Border Protection R-VACIS equipment. The consist of automobile frames and finished automobiles built in Mexico is indicative of a lot of the non-containerized northbound traffic. The bottleneck that the cross border rail traffic causes in Laredo is amazing to watch. When I was in the area there were grade crossings on the UP side that were continuously blocked by trains waiting to go to Mexico for the entire day. On the KCS side there were crossings blocked for as long as 2.5 hours. The KCS mainline turns to the east with 17 grade crossings in a row as it cuts across downtown. Trains that get delayed at the border basically split the city in half.
Laredo, Texas
November 17, 2017
Bottleneck
The head end of northbound UP freight is on the US side of the border with an American crew on board. They are beginning to make the slow pull through the US Customs and Border Protection R-VACIS equipment. The consist of automobile frames and finished automobiles built in Mexico is indicative of a lot of the non-containerized northbound traffic. The bottleneck that the cross border rail traffic causes in Laredo is amazing to watch. When I was in the area there were grade crossings on the UP side that were continuously blocked by trains waiting to go to Mexico for the entire day. On the KCS side there were crossings blocked for as long as 2.5 hours. The KCS mainline turns to the east with 17 grade crossings in a row as it cuts across downtown. Trains that get delayed at the border basically split the city in half.
Laredo, Texas
November 17, 2017