CPKC, CSX debut Southeast Mexico Express service improvements

CPKC and CSX today announced upgrades to the Southeast Mexico Express (SMX) premium intermodal service that include faster transit times and more origin and destination options.  

SMX offers intermodal, automotive and carload customers truck-competitive transit times and runs between southeastern U.S. markets such as Atlanta, Charlotte or central Florida, and markets in Texas and Mexico, including Dallas and Monterrey. 

The service improvements have reduced transit times — ranging from 20% to 45% — for every previously available SMX option, CPKC and CSX officials said in a press release. 

“These reductions range from approximately one-day faster service between Atlanta and Dallas, and approximately 2.5 days faster between Atlanta and central Mexico,” they said. 

The service improvements are the result of capital investments in track, bridges and signal infrastructure on the former Meridian & Bigbee Railroad (MNBR), and continued investments across the corridor in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas that helped boost speed and efficiency. 

"This is a premium rail solution that cannot be replicated because we have the best route linking shippers to Texas and to Mexico that will move more trucks to rail,” said CPKC President and CEO Keith Creel. 

The Class Is debuted the SMX service in December 2024 after each acquired portions of the former MNBR and established a direct joint interchange near Myrtlewood, Alabama. 

"By working closely with CPKC, we're expanding access and delivering meaningful improvements for shippers moving freight between the key markets of the southeast [United States] and Mexico,” said CSX President and CEO Steve Angel.