cameron county/matamoros - blue - The University of Texas at ...

The Port of Brownsville has over 33 miles of railroad track, with rail sidings
serving warehouses, industries and all docks in the port area. General Cargo
Docks have shipside tracks and all general cargo facilities, with the exception of
Dock 11, have double depressed tracks at the rear of the transit sheds. Storage
and classified tracks are capable of holding 500 cars. 10
UP maintains a local terminal and switching yard in Harlingen where the
Harlingen Industrial Parks and Port of Harlingen have direct rail access. Only the
UP terminal in Harlingen provides commercial motor carrier and rail intermodal
connectivity facilities.
Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM) connects with the UP switching yard
and is the Rio Grande Valley's only rail line to Mexico which runs across the
Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge to Monterrey, Mexico. TFM is a
subsidiary of Grupo Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, a joint venture of
Tranportacion Maritima Mexicana and Kansas City Southern Industries. TFM
provides the shortest route between major cities in Mexico and the U.S.A., and
links up to the North American rail network at the border crossing points of
Laredo/Nuevo Laredo and Brownsville/Matamoros, where more than 60% of
commercial traffic between Mexico and the USA crosses the border.11
As indicated by Table E.7, southbound rail car crossings at
Brownsville/Matamoros increased 18% from 1994 (11,854) to 2001 (14,007).
Statewide, southbound rail car crossings in the region increased by 220% from
1994 (66,898) to 2001 (213,775). Clearly, the Brownsville/Matamoros rail
corridor has not captured it fair share of the increase in rail car crossings.
This disparity in crossings also holds true for northbound rail car crossings but to
a smaller extent. Table E.8 indicates that northbound rail crossings at
Brownsville/Matamoros increased by 24% from 1994 (31,119) to 2001
(38,450). Statewide, northbound rail car crossings in the region increased by
80% from 1994 (171,103) to 2001 (306,732). As with truck border crossings
these disparities may be due to border crossing delays, distance from point of
origin to destination, the location of maquiladoras in Mexico, or other factors.
Table E.7 Rail Car Crossings SOUTH (Texas to Mexico) 1994-2001
Rail -South 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Brownsville 31,119 21,820 25,389 30,842 32,717 31,780 36,074 38,450
Eagle Pass 18,818 24,713 40,929 52,443 56,669 69,661 78,347 86,038
El Paso N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 3,001 N/A N/A
Laredo 121,166 109,385 133,314 152,230 148,009 167,963 184,498 182,244
Total 171,103 155,918 199,632 235,515 237,395 272,405 298,919 306,732
Source: Data provided by railroad companies serving cited cities and compiled by Texas A&M International
University, Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development.
10 Ibid.
11 Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, Web site: http://www.tfm.com.mx/english/home1.html,
Accessed: April 21, 2002
xvii.