for the first trains for over 20 years, by June 2009. The line now operates daily trains and has CTC signaling. On May 23, 2018, the Tex-Mex announced they were moving the point of interchange where the railroad met Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM). For many years the interchange took place on the bridge connecting Mexico and the United States at Laredo, Texas where Mexican crews and American crews would change out. American crews working for Tex-Mex did not operate in Mexico and Mexican crews working for KCSM did not operate in the U.S. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) approved the Tex-Mex's request to allow Mexican crews to cross the border with their trains and operate 9 miles into the U.S. to the North Laredo switching yard. The Carrier asserted that this would relieve the congestion and road blockages by the long freight trains, which lasted for hours in Neuvo Laredo and in Laredo since the trains would no longer have to change crews on the border bridge. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen (BLET) objected to the use of Mexican crews in the United States and threatened to strike over the matter. U.S. District Court Judge Diana Saldana enjoined the BLET from striking and ordered the parties to arbitrate the matter before an arbitrator. The arbitrator ruled on July 19, 2020 that the bargaining contracts between the Tex-Mex Railway and the BLET allowed the railroad the exclusive right to determine where the point of interchange would be. He noted that the FRA's decision to allow Mexican crews to operate into the United States was not before him, because that matter had previously been decided by the FRA and was not a part of the BLET's grievance. References Former Class I railroads in the United States Texas railroads Predecessors of the Kansas City Southern Railway Railway companies established in 1881 Narrow gauge railroads in Texas Transportation in Duval County, Texas Transportation in Jim Hogg County, Texas Transportation in Jim Wells County, Texas Transportation in Nueces County, Texas Transportation in Webb County, Texas 3 ft gauge railways in the United States 1881 establishments in Texas Porfiriato