Meridian Speedway

The Meridian Speedway is 320-mile (510 km) span of railroad track between Meridian, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana. The Meridian Speedway is owned by the Meridian Speedway LLC (MSLLC). The MSLLC is, in turn, owned by Kansas City Southern (KCS) (who has a majority interest) and Alabama Great Southern Railroad (a subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Railway, who has a minority interest).^[1]

History

On December 2, 2005, KCS and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) announced an agreement to form a joint venture on KCS' Meridian Speedway between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La. This rail line is an important direct rail connection moving rail traffic between the Southeast and Southwest U.S..

The joint venture involves the contribution of KCS' 320-mile line between Meridian and Shreveport, to the joint venture company and an NS investment of $300 million in cash, substantially all of which will be used for capital improvements to increase capacity and improve transit times over the line.^[2] The transaction was subject to regulatory review from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB), which was completed April 10, 2006. And on May 1, 2006, KCS and NS closed on the deal. By September 2007, about $135 million had been spent on the improvements. In all, several new and longer passing sidings were installed along with an all new CTC signaling system. The mainline itself was effectively rebuilt from the ground up with new ballast, crossties and heavier welded rail. Since the completion of the first round of improvements, approximately 45 trains per day traversed the line.^[3] This number has since dwindled down to less than 15 trains per day. Run-through Norfolk Southern/Union Pacific intermodal trains comprise a majority of the traffic on this mainline.

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