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Last month, Kansas City Southern opened a new TransLoad Center (TLC) in Siloam Springs, Ark. Operated by Skelton Reload Services, the seven-acre facility is designed to handle lumber, steel, aluminum and food products, and load and unload all types of rail cars.

Through October, KCS' network of 45 warehouses and bulk facilities handled more than 17,000 carloads, a 34 percent increase compared with the same 2003 period. The TLC program also increased revenue 52 percent during that time span.

The railroad registered significant growth at TLCs in Jackson, Miss., and Port Arthur, Texas. During its first fiscal year of operation, the Port Arthur facility loaded more than 570,000 tons of soda ash into ships destined for South America, Europe and South Africa. The Jackson TLC — which opened in July 2002 — posted a 23 percent increase in tonnage through October compared with the same 2003 period.

Through its TLC program, KCS partners with selected logistics, trucking and warehousing firms to provide customers distribution and consolidation services. The program offers a single-bill, door-to-door service package including rail cars, and warehousing and trucking services.