116 Business View Magazine - August 2016
Texas-Pacifico
Transportation Company
Staying on track
The Texas-Pacifico Transportation, Ltd. (TXPF), a U.S.
subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, operates 391 miles of
short line track over the 115 year-old, South Orient
Line in West Central Texas. In 2015, its 28 locomotives
hauled 658 million tons of cargo between Presidio on
the Mexican border where the line connects to Mexi-
co’s FXE (Ferromex) railroad system, and San Angelo
Junction where it meets up with the BNSF and FWWR
(Fort Worth and Western Railroad) lines.
Due to its location, TXPF, which has seen both good
and bad times over its hundred-plus year history, has
become a key player in the Lone Star State’s oil and
gas industry. When Business View Magazine first talk-
ed to TXPF, we learned that, in 2014, 90 percent of its
haul was fracking sand, used by the crude oil industry
in its drilling process. But lately, according to Vice Pres-
ident of Sales and Marketing, Liz Grindstaff, sand cars
make up only 65 percent of its traffic, attributable, she
says, to a recent downturn in new well starts. “We’re
somewhat in a reactive mode when it comes to the
energy sector,” she explains. “So what our company
is doing is trying very hard to diversify, and since we
spoke last year we have moved hundreds of miles of
