In 2005, as part of major capital investments by Kansas City Southern Railroad in and around Vicksburg, Mississippi, the track curve at Vicksburg was reduced from 17 to ten degrees.

In addition to improving the safety of the operation in this area, the ability to run distributed power from Shreveport, Louisiana to Meridian, Mississippi is among the many benefits of this reduction. The first distributed power train on the Meridian Speedway ran the last week of January 2006.

Before running distributed power on this line, trains would have to stop at Vicksburg Yard for more power to shove over Vicksburg hill. Time was spent stopping in the yard, connecting shoving power and returning shoving power to the yard. Now trains with distributed power, including grain trains from Kansas City, Mo. to Union, Miss. and some manifest traffic, can run straight through from Shreveport to Meridian, relieving yard congestion and increasing velocity.

KCSR has used distributed power on coal trains over the north south line between Kansas City and Shreveport for some time. Distributed power is the use of multiple locomotives in various combinations within a train's consist, with all locomotives being controlled by the engineer in the head locomotive. Combinations include locomotives at the head and rear or at the head and middle of the train. The combination used is based on logistics and the tractive effort requirements for the train's length and tonnage.

The operation of distributed power technology requires special training. A portion of the training began last week for the managers of operating practices and mechanical managers, who are learning how the technology works and how to maintain the technology from computer programmers, G.E. Harris. This week, engineer training began. Additional training will take place in the coming weeks, eventually reaching all engineers, managers of operating practices and mechanical managers on the line.

Not all locomotives are capable of being used in distributed power service. With the addition of SD90's and new SD70ACe's to the fleet, the AC4400's typically used for coal trains on the north south line are being combined with SD70ACe's to run distributed power trains on the Meridian Speedway. These operational changes, in combination with investments in power and infrastructure are preparing the Meridian Speedway for more traffic.