KCS COVID-19 Business Update March 20, 2020

March 20, 2020

To our valued customers and partners,

As the COVID-19/Coronavirus continues to take a stronger foothold within the US and Mexico, we are adapting our business to ensure we maintain focus on our priorities – Protecting the health and well-being of our employees and others and assuring the continuity of our business operations. Following the communication sent on March 6th, related to COVID-19/Coronavirus, we would like to provide you an update on our actions.  

Protecting the health and well-being of our employees and others
At the forefront of all we do is taking care of our employees and people in our communities. We closely follow CDC guidelines and are taking the following actions to maintain a safe and healthy work environment:

• We have instituted a work from home policy for all employees having the ability to do so. This will be reevaluated periodically as the situation changes. These employees are equipped with laptops/remote working capabilities and equipment enabling them to work remotely without interruption.  We have taken actions to ensure that communication with customers and stakeholder will be seamless during this time.  
• For those employees deemed essential to be at their work site, we are practicing social distancing and have restricted access to certain work areas in order to minimize external exposure.
• We have implemented a robust cleaning and sanitizing effort for all work and common areas.  
• We have employee communication and feedback mechanisms in place to share best practices and receive any changes to an employee’s health situation fast and easily.  
• We have eliminated all non-essential travel for our employees. We will be available via phone, email or conference tools to serve you.  

Ensuring the continuity of our business operations
Our trip plans and transportation schedules have, to date, remained unchanged. Trains are moving and we are working tirelessly to ensure this continues. The US/Mexico border remains open to the commercial movement of goods. Railroads are considered critical infrastructure and as such we have the support of federal authorities in both countries.

We are taking the following actions to ensure business continuity:  

• We hold daily internal briefings on business continuity. 
• We participate in daily briefings with local, state and federal agencies, as needed, to protect commerce and the movement of freight.  
• We continue to work in collaboration with our vendors and partners to ensure that necessary materials and resources are readily available. 
• We have implemented additional cleaning and sanitation services at our office facilities, maintenance shops and locomotives to help reduce the risk of contamination of our operations employees.
• To ensure business continuity, we have temporarily diversified the work locations for critical departments including our Network Operations function. 
• Part of KCS’ standard operating procedures involves extra job boards for access to trained field employees in the event of crew shortages. Additionally, we have the ability to temporarily relocate crews and employees to locations of need.  

We remain committed and focused on minimizing the impact to our business and our customers’ transportation supply chains. To ensure we are in the best position to serve and communicate with you, we ask that you assist with the following:  

• Please communicate changes to your business operations and forecasts with your sales and marketing account executive. 
• To make sure we can quickly and efficiently communicate with you, it is important that your contact information is current. Using the link below (“Manage Preferences”), please confirm your contact information is up-to-date or add any missing information. 

KCS is committed to all our stakeholders and we continue to focus on our vision to be the fastest-growing, best-performing, most customer-focused transportation provider in North America. To that end, we pledge to keep you updated on the status of our operations, and any new actions we take to adjust to evolving customer needs.

Please feel free to refer to our website under Rail Resources for COVID-19 resources and updates.  

Thank you for your continued support and confidence and may you all remain healthy.

Sincerely,

Mike Naatz
EVP, Chief Marketing Officer