RAC recognizes safety efforts of three railroads, one service provider

Canadian Pacific, Genesee & Wyoming Canada Inc., VIA Rail Canada Inc. and Cando Rail Services Ltd. yesterday received the Railway Association of Canada’s (RAC) 2018 Safety Awards during a ceremony in Ottawa, Ontario.

The annual awards recognize members' outstanding leadership in and attention to safety. RAC represents the interests of more than 50 freight and passenger railroads in Canada.

The association honored CP for its locomotive engineer training simulation program and the classroom version of its conductor simulation training initiative, as well as the railroad’s predictive wayside detection initiative for bearings.

“By designing simulation that realistically recreates the conditions that our locomotive engineers and conductors will encounter in the field, we ultimately ensure that they can succeed once they're put in control of an actual train,” said CP Chief Mechanical Officer Kyle Mulligan in a press release.

G&W Canada earned the award for its “Target Zero” training program, which is aimed at strengthening the organizational safety culture.

“For us, security is more than an objective, it is a fundamental value,” said G&W Canada President Louis Gravel. “Thanks to a strong safety culture reinforced by the Target Zero program, we have the tools to enable us to prevent all types of rail incidents and ensure the safety of our employees and colleagues.”

For VIA Rail, the award recognizes its operational safety strategy, which has helped prevent train accidents.

“Since 2015, through training, communication and monitoring, we have reduced the number of train incidents each year, from 2.4 incidents per million miles traveled in 2015 to 0.60 incidents per million miles traveled in 2017,” said VIA Rail President and Chief Executive Officer Yves Desjardins-Siciliano.

Meanwhile, the RAC honored Cando Rail Services for its employee safety education program.

“Where most other traditional railway programs focused on specific safety training or procedures, ours was designed to help employees understand communication processes, safe work procedures and other safety initiatives and what they can do personally to improve safety performance,” said Cando Rail Services Director of Corporate Safety Steve Gallagher.

The initiatives introduced by members in 2018 are helping to advance rail safety in Canada, said RAC President and CEO Marc Brazeau.

“The winners represent different segments of our country's rail industry — Class Is, short lines and passenger carriers — which shows our collective commitment to continuous safety improvements,” he said.