Kansas City Southern’s Canadian oil shipments to the U.S. Gulf Coast are increasing as the price difference between Mexican and Canadian heavy crude has widened, Chief Executive David Starling told analysts on Friday. “July should be a record for us in terms of crude car loadings,” he said. Starling also said pipeline movements of Canadian crude to the Gulf market “is pretty much tapped out,” suggesting that incremental barrels will arrive via rail. The regional railroad reported lower quarterly net profits on Friday with the strongest hit from shrunken coal shipments. However, crude oil revenue rose 42 percent in the quarter with carloads up 37 percent compared to the year-ago period, the company said. Patrick Ottensmeyer, the company’s president, said oil-by-rail volumes this month were 70 percent above 2014 levels and about 65 percent higher than in the first quarter this year. Starling noted that the railroad bought locomotives last year on the expectation that crude transportation would increase, but lower oil prices and narrowed Western Canadian Select (WCS) discounts siphoned shipments. “Now, we’re seeing growth, and we hope that it’s sustainable,” he said.