Canadian Railways: Meeting Customer Expectations Through Challenging Winter Conditions

It’s hard to believe that the first month of 2021 is behind us.

January sped by, with steady streams of news from around the world and here at home.

The new year brought a new federal minister of transport. We are in contact with Minister Alghabra and his staff. Our early advocacy efforts have focused on ensuring our issues are on his radar as he briefs up.

We are also in regular communication with federal officials from several departments about the government’s recently released ‘clean fuel standard’ regulatory approach. Our lead on this critical file is EVP Caroline Healey. (She is profiled below as we kick off a series of profiles to help you get better acquainted with RAC team members.)

The focus of this month’s newsletter, however, is how our members rise to the challenge of maintaining rail operations through a Canadian winter. (It’s also the subject of a new video we’ll be releasing later this week, so stay tuned!)

To date, this winter has been an exceptional one on several fronts. Weather-wise, temperatures have been warmer and snow accumulations lower than normal. Intercity and commuter passenger numbers continue to be impacted by pandemic realities. Freight rail colleagues, meantime, have posted record grain hauls, facilitated online holiday shopping deliveries to doorsteps across Canada, and ensured rebounding oil shipments made it safely to market.

Our message to clients and all who count on us is clear: we are ready, willing, and able to scale up as our economy recovers from the COVID hit it suffered in 2020. We are reliable supply chain partners – in no small measure because of the efforts throughout the network to ensure that trains keep running, regardless of the season.

In good times and bad, and when weather is at its worst, our wheels are always turning – moving people, goods, and the Canadian economy forward.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay connected.