Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) — Corporate Overview

Premises Description

Kansas City Southern Railway (“KCS” — founded 1887, headquartered Kansas City, Missouri; acquired by Canadian Pacific in 2023 to form Canadian Pacific Kansas City / CPKC) was through the 20th century one of the principal U.S. north-south Class I freight railroads, uniquely connecting Kansas City, Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico through a compact 3,200-mile network. The KCS system spanned Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas — anchored by the Kansas City to Port Arthur / New Orleans corridor. KCS’s flagship shop and yard complexes included Knoche Yard (Kansas City MO — KCS’s principal northern terminal and locomotive shop), Deramus Yard (Shreveport LA — the railroad’s central classification yard and major locomotive/car shop), Pittsburg KS, Heavener OK, Port Arthur TX, Jackson MS, and New Orleans LA — all major regional workplaces through the asbestos era.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) that Kansas City Southern Railway exposed its railroad workforce to asbestos through:

  • Asbestos brake-shoe dust at KCS rip tracks, car shops, and locomotive servicing facilities
  • Asbestos locomotive insulation on steam-era boiler lagging and diesel engine-room piping
  • Asbestos pipe covering on shop and roundhouse steam mains
  • Asbestos block insulation on shop boilers at Knoche and Deramus
  • Spray-applied asbestos fireproofing on shop structural steel
  • Asbestos ceiling and partition board in shop, roundhouse, and office buildings
  • Asbestos brake dust on freight cars received from interchange partners

Kansas City Southern Railway has been named as a Premises Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation under FELA — including in cases venued in Kansas City and St. Louis MO courts.

Workers Exposed

  • Railroad car repairmen at Knoche Yard, Deramus Yard, Pittsburg, and Heavener
  • Locomotive engineers, firemen, and hostlers on KCS trains
  • Railroad shop machinists, boilermakers, pipefitters, sheet-metal workers, and electricians
  • Roundhouse and locomotive-servicing workers
  • KCS yard switchmen, conductors, and brakemen
  • Shop-building maintenance workers exposed to building asbestos

If You Worked for Kansas City Southern

If you worked for Kansas City Southern Railway — at any KCS yard, shop, roundhouse, or facility in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, or elsewhere on the KCS system during the asbestos era — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA). Liability continues through CPKC as successor operator.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956

Plants by State

Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS) operated plants across multiple U.S. states. Detailed premises information is available on the following state jobsite pages: