Kansas City Souther/Northern Metroliner
Kansas City Southern/Northern Metroliner
History
When Japan opened the Shinkansen in 1964, it shook the developed world. Countries raced to complete new HSR train sets that could compete with the speed of the Shinkansen. France successfully did this with the TGV opening in the 1980s, but was actually beaten by the lowly Kansas City Southern. In 1968 the KCS began work on a new Shinkansen between the cities of Downers Grove & Gulf Shores. They also had been working with the Budd company to build new HSR train sets known as the Metroliner. A sleek tubular design that could hit speeds of 125 mph on a repurposed passenger bypass & new HSR line. However, issues arose, and Budd had to delay the design by 2 years. With the KCS losing money on an HSR line that was sitting empty, only 2 train sets had managed to be delivered by 1971. It was the end of the KCS, the cost of the new HSR line with few trains took a toll. Looking to the neighboring Great Northern, they looked at a merger to solve their troubling financial situation. In 1978, the Kansas City Southern and Great Northern merged to form the Kansas City Northern. The merger was ill fated, as profits continued to slip. It was a ticking time-bomb of when the company would go bust. In 1981 Conrail would buyout the bankrupt KCN, and rationalize the network. One of the crowning achievements of the KCS, the Shinkansen, would be downgraded to 110 diesel service using the RTL Turboliner.
Stats
It’s the exact same as the normal metroliner
