CN reaches training milestone

CN’s Winnipeg Training Campus

PRNewsFoto/CN

Fifteen thousand Canadian National employees have completed a range of railway training programs at its two education campuses since they opened in 2014. The railroad also unveiled plans to provide customer safety training under its new CN Campus Partnership Program.

“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,” explained Claude Mongeau, CN president and chief executive officer. “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.”

Mongeau says CN plans to roll out a similar customer program at its U.S. campus in suburban Chicago in the near future. Target audiences will eventually include smaller carload customers, shortline railroads 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,” he noted.

CN adopted a new 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 centers.

The Winnipeg center hosts employees from across Canada, while the Homewood, Ill., facility accommodates employees from across the U.S. Opened in mid-2014, the training campuses provide training with a modern curriculum 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 used by the employees attending the facilities.

“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,” explained Mongeau. “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.”