CN Campus Partnership Program to offer
safety-focused training to rail customers
MONTREAL, April 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE:
CNI) announced today that 15,000 employees have completed a range
of railway training programs at its two education campuses since
they opened in 2014. CN also unveiled plans to provide customer
safety training under its new CN Campus Partnership
Program.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160404/350892)
Claude Mongeau, CN president and chief executive officer, said:
"CN attaining the milestone of training 15,000 employees at our two
campuses reflects the re-engineering of how CN hires a new
generation of railroaders and upgrades the skills of current ones.
Sustaining a skilled employee base and instilling a strong safety
culture in our ranks are critical priorities for CN as it builds
for the future.
"In the next stage of CN's training evolution, we will offer
safety-focused courses to our largest carload customers at our
Winnipeg training campus starting
this May. The CN Campus Partnership Program courses will
deal with track, basic rail safety and the requirements of safe
switching operations.
"We plan to roll out a similar customer program at our U.S.
campus in suburban Chicago in the
near future. Our target audiences will eventually include smaller
carload customers, short-line railways, and intermodal customers.
We think this kind of collaboration will help ensure safer
operations throughout the entire railway supply chain and instill
the same safety mindset CN has among its customer base."
CN adopted a new innovative approach to employee training when
it embarked on its workforce renewal program six years ago. With
the launch of that program, CN began to realize it needed more
integrated and sophisticated employee training methods, including
laboratories and digital learning tools. As a result CN built two
new training centres at a total cost of C$60
million.
The Winnipeg centre hosts
employees from across Canada,
while the Homewood facility
accommodates employees from across the U.S. Opened in mid-2014, the
training campuses provide consistent, quality training with a
modern curriculum, coupled with skilled instructors, for jobs
ranging from conductor to track maintainer, and car mechanic to
supervisor. Employees receive hands-on training in learning
laboratories with equipment such as locomotive, crane, and signal
and communication simulators. Outdoor labs with dedicated rolling
stock and other equipment for field training are also appreciated
by the employees attending the facilities.
Mongeau concluded: "Quality on-boarding and employee training
are essential to attracting, retaining and developing talented
railroaders who will work safely and help CN maintain its
leadership position for many years to come. CN continues to
innovate and adapt to changing forces and now we want our customers
and other stakeholders to share how we think of and practice safe
railroading every day of the year."
CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting more than
C$250 billion worth of goods annually
for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource
products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail
network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN – Canadian National
Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries –
serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince
Rupert, B.C., Montreal,
Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of
Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth,
Minn./Superior, Wis., and
Jackson, Miss., with connections
to all points in North America.
For more information about CN, visit the Company's website at
www.cn.ca.
SOURCE CN