Garza tapped for railroad board: Says merger will benefit Brownsville and Texas

Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and Brownsville native Antonio Garza has been named to the board of directors of the first single-line railway connecting the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Federal regulators last month approved the $31 billion merger of Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific railroads, creating the new Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). The terms of the merger agreement stipulated that four KCS directors serve on the board of the combined railroad company. Garza formerly served on KCS’s board.

“I’m honored to have been selected to the serve on the board of CPKC, and particularly excited for what this will mean for Texas, the border and Brownsville,” he said.

Garza, counsel to White & Case law firm in Mexico City, was born and raised in Brownsville. He was elected Cameron County judge in 1988, the first Republican to win the seat and the state’s youngest county judge at the time, serving through 1994 when he was appointed Texas secretary of state.

As county judge, Garza worked on a number of transportation initiatives including the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates and Los Indios, an experience that could serve him well as director to CPKC.

“Truth is, you can’t move your economy if you can’t move people and goods,” he said. “And roads, bridges and all that’s going on at the Port of Brownsville is a big part of the puzzle.”

Garza predicted Brownsville and Texas will gain economically from the creation of CPKC.

“Texas does far more trade with Mexico than any other state in the U.S., and both Laredo and Brownsville are already big beneficiaries of that movement of goods,” he said.

Having single-line rail service to shippers in the three U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement countries makes Texas ports more competitive and “both the city and Port of Brownsville will see more activity,” Garza said.

“While we’re already seeing signs of more investment in near-shoring platforms, this is a trend that will accelerate and continue,” he said.

“Near-shoring” refers to the practice of partnering with suppliers, manufacturers and other elements of a supply chain that are located in a nearby country — in Mexico as opposed to China, for instance.

“(CPKC) is going to be a big part of the logistics equation for that sort of investment and you can expect Texas, the border and Mexican states to take full advantage of that new reality,” Garza said.

He touted the two railroads’ safety records, with Canadian Pacific the safest railroad in North America for nearly two decades, and said he’s “certain of the (CPKC) commitment to those standards.”

After serving as secretary of state, Garza was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission, which he chaired.

In 2002, President George W. Bush named him U.S. ambassador to Mexico, a post Garza held through 2009.

He is a director of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and COMEXI, CFR’s Mexican counterpart, and is a recipient of the Aguila Azteca (Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle), that country’s highest honor bestowed upon a foreign national.

Garza holds a bachelor of business administration from The University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from Southern Methodist School of Law and has been recognized by both universities as a distinguished alumnus. He is a graduate of St. Joseph Academy in Brownsville.