RP1 • an information feature
t h e g l o b e a n d m a i l • f r i day, n ov e m b e r 3 0 , 2 0 1 2
Special
RAIL POWER
A driving force in the economy,
Canada’s railway sector pushing
new ways to deliver the goods
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
ribbon of steel runs
through Canada’s narrative: close to 50,000
kilometres of national, regional
and local railroad tracks that span
the country from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. As they move millions of people and billions of
tonne-kilometres of freight each
year, Canada’s railways – one of
the world’s largest rail networks
– drive economic growth and
strengthen communities.
Leaders in Canada’s rail industry are now calling on government and industry stakeholders
to work together and help the
rail sector continue its successful
track record.
“Railways built Canada,” says
Dr. Barry Prentice, a former director of the Transport Institute who
is now professor of supply chain
management at the University of
Manitoba’s I. H. Asper School of
Business. “Roads and communities in Canada were built because
railway tracks were there. Canada’s railways are a critical part of
our history and our economy.”
Today, Canada’s rail industry
boasts billions in annual revenue
and employs more than 32,000
people. Total freight revenues
from 2011 reached almost $10.3
billion, a 7.7 per cent increase
over 2010, according to the Railway Association of Canada, an
Ottawa-based organization that
represents more than 50 goods,
tourist, commuter and intercity
rail businesses in Canada.
At Canadian National Railway
Company (CN), which operates
Canada’s largest rail network
and owns approximately 33,152
route-kilometres of track in North
America, revenues for the first
nine months of 2012 were up 11
per cent from the same period
“For an industry that’s
often seen as very
inflexible – you just
can’t pick up and move
your rails – the Canadian
rail industry has been
remarkably flexible and
agile.”
Dr. Barry Prentice
is a professor of supply chain
management at the University
of Manitoba’s I. H. Asper School
of Business
last year.
Railway Association of Canada
(RAC) president and CEO Michael
Bourque says rail in Canada is
growing in a multitude of areas
and enjoys strong public support
“at all levels. Canadians want
more rail.”
Mr. Bourque says strong demand for freight services is due in
large part to Canadian exports of
goods and commodities produced by the mining, agriculture,
forestry, potash and energy industries. These and other industries
that ship large volumes of heavy
freight benefit from Canadian rail
freight rates, which are among
the lowest in the world, according
to the RAC.
The global move to “containerization” – freight transport that
uses large, stackable containers
that can be ported by train, ship
and truck – is another factor in
Canadian rail’s growth, says Dr.
Prentice. Canadian rail companies are also increasingly moving
crude oil in tank cars. Unlike
pipelines that need a long leadtime to build, railways have the
ready capacity to move oil in
containers.
“For an industry that’s often
seen as very inflexible – you just
can’t pick up and move your
rails – the Canadian rail industry
has been remarkably flexible and
agile,” he says.
Last year, according to the
North American Transportation
Statistics Database, almost $103
billion worth of international
merchandise – about $11 billion
more than the previous year –
travelled by Canadian rail, with
exported goods accounting for
more than $68 billion.
CN alone moves about
$85 billion worth of goods each
year to global markets. Canadians goods slated for export to
the U.S. and offshore markets
account for about 30 per cent of
CN’s carloads.
“That means CN is a major
player in Canada’s trade and
prosperity, and that global trade
is very important to CN’s business as well,” says Mark Hallman, CN’s director of communications and public affairs.
The country’s rail operators
continue to up their game. Last
year, to meet rising demand for
rail, Canada’s two largest rail
companies, CN and Canadian
Pacific, spent a total of more
than $2.7 billion on infrastructure and system improvements.
This year, CN is spending $1.8
billion to maintain and further
upgrade its North American
railway network and support
various growth and productivity
initiatives.
But these investments aren’t
all that’s needed to ensure
Canada’s rail industry continues
to thrive and create value for
the industries that drive the
country’s economy. Government
and industry stakeholders must
also work together to ensure a
balanced, commercial approach
to rail service, says Mr. Hallman.
“Additional regulation being
demanded by some shippers
would stifle innovation and chill
the positive momentum we’ve
developed,” says Mr. Hallman.
“If the government were to
legislate in the area of railwaycustomer service agreements,
we believe any new rules should
be balanced and targeted. CN
believes such legislation should
require mediation as a first step
to give commercial solutions a
better chance to prevail.”
PROGRESS
Innovation propelling commuter and freight services
emand is rising for innovative rail technologies as
cities seek to make metropolitan areas more livable and
productive, and freight operators
strive for further efficiency gains.
Finding ways of enabling urban
transit systems to move more
people “has benefits for both
the environment and reducing
gridlock,” notes Michael MacKenzie, vice president and managing
director of Toronto-based Thales
Canada, Transportation Solutions, which produces systems to
enhance urban railway network
performance.
Thales Canada invented today’s
modern, automated train control
technology (known as Communi-
cations-Based Train Control) over
25 years ago and its products can
be found on urban rail systems
in more than 30 cities around the
world. “This ‘brains for trains’
technology increases system
efficiency by 30 to 40 per cent, significantly reduces operating costs
and can be installed on existing
systems and on new builds,” says
The world is complex.
Your decisions don’t have to be.
Online?
Transport safety
Seamless journeys
Operational
efficiency
Passenger satisfaction
Revenue
protection
Network capacity
To find out more about our
Transportation solutions,
scan the QR code or visit
thalesgroup.com/canada
www.railcan.ca
Read more
about Canada’s
rail industry at:
Mr. MacKenzie.
Beyond a goal of improving
operational efficiencies and
customer service, transit operators
are also adopting innovative technologies as a means of helping to
reduce operating costs.
Technological innovations
have also enabled improved rail
transport safety and operational
reliability.
An example is Canadian Pacific’s (CP) Predictive Technology.
It uses data from a trackside monitor that analyzes passing freight
trains for any possible mechanical
troubles. “This allows maintenance staff to proactively correct
problems before they present a
potential safety issue or impact
a customer shipment,” said CP
spokesperson Ed Greenberg, who
notes CP’s proprietary train and
track surveillance systems incorporate advanced digital imaging,
GPS tracking and cutting-edge sensors “to quickly identify infrastructure issues and conduct maintenance – lifting fleet efficiency and
community safety to new levels.”
In the transit sector, Thales
reports that systems that keep
trains flowing smoothly and safely
at closer intervals in order to facilitate more passenger flow – are in
hot demand.
Similarly, transit operators are
increasingly introducing systems
that automatically collect fares
and provide passengers with
up-to-the-minute arrival and departure information. For example,
passengers using Agence metropolitaine de transport (AMT)
service in Montreal can now use
their smartphones to check the ar-
ENVIRONMENT
Efforts advance green rail
agenda
Train transport is more than
an efficient way to get heavy
loads from points A to B; it’s
also the greener way to go.
“Railroads are the most
environmentally sound way
to move freight over land,”
says Mark Hallman, communications and public
affairs director at Canadian
National Railway Company.
“On average, trains are four
times more fuel efficient
than trucks. They also
reduce highway gridlock,
lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce pollution.”
According to the Railway
Association of Canada, an
average freight train can
move the same tonnage of
freight as 280 big trucks.
Canada’s railways have
become increasingly energy efficient over the years,
thanks to innovations such
as low-idle and automatic
stop and start systems, and
rail lubrication technology
that reduces friction, noise,
wear and energy use. Today,
it takes just one litre of diesel fuel to transport a tonne
of freight 169 kilometres by
train.
Green initiatives are yielding results at CN. Through
its power motive acquisition program, the company
is buying new, more fuelefficient locomotives while
retiring older units and
moving less fuel-efficient
mainline units into less
demanding operations.
CN today consumes close
to 15 per cent less fuel per
gross-tonne-mile than the
industry average, says Mr.
Hallman.
CN’s quest for improvement led the company to
recently retrofit two diesel
engine locomotives to use
90 per cent natural gas, with
10 per cent diesel fuel for
ignition. CN is testing them
on a 480-kilometre run
north of Edmonton to Fort
McMurray. If the technology
proves viable, locomotives
using natural gas – which
has a lower carbon content
than diesel – would produce
significantly fewer carbon
dioxide emissions.
rival times of inbound trains. AMT
also uses electronic display boards
at stations to keep passengers
informed.
While Thales currently offers
a suite of fully integrated control
solutions that enable operators to
centrally monitor various aspects
of their system including security
and fire and smoke detection
on trains and in stations, a new
generation of urban rail advanced
train controls is already in development. Mr. MacKenzie says these
controls will provide transit operators even greater functionality and
oversight of their systems from
central locations.
Mr. MacKenzie says that Thales
is proud to provide solutions for
Canadian rail transit operations in
Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and
Edmonton, and is currently working to ensure its technology is part
of the solution for new projects
planned for the Greater Toronto
Area, Calgary, Kitchener-Waterloo
and Ottawa.
This report was produced by RandallAnthony Communications Inc. (www.randallanthony.com) in conjunction with the advertising
department of The Globe and Mail. Richard Deacon, National Business Development Manager, [email protected].
an information feature • RP2
t h e g lo b e a n d m a i l • f r i day, n ov e m b e r 3 0 , 2 0 1 2
RAIL POWER
POLL HIGHLIGHTS
According to the recent poll,
the railway sector continues
to garner positive impressions from the Canadian
public, especially with regards to safety and societal/
environmental impacts. Here
are some of the highlights:
• Railway transportation,
including freight and
personal transportation,
is by far seen as the safest,
most environmentally
friendly and best means
of transportation for
society overall compared
to trucks, buses, cars and
planes.
• Nearly three-quarters
(72%) would recommend
jobs in the railway sector
to their friends or family
members.
• Rail transportation is seen
as the most environmentally friendly (84%), safest
(83%), best for society
overall (74%) and most
reliable (65%) means of
transportation by Canadians.
OPINION
Canadians see rail as best way to meet the
nation’s growing transportation needs
By Michael Bourque
President and CEO, Railway
Association of Canada
“As the backbone of
a highly-integrated
logistics network,
Canadian railways have
been instrumental in
solidifying this economic
status.”
national survey conducted
by Léger Marketing for the
Railway Association of
Canada (RAC) shows Canadians
have overwhelmingly positive
perceptions towards rail. They
envision rail as a growing component of the nation’s future transportation system and embrace an
increased presence of rail in the
• The railway sector is seen
by most Canadians as
being important to the
national (93%), provincial
(91%) and local (80%)
economies.
• Rail transportation is also
clearly seen as a potential
solution to congestion
problems on Canadian
highways and in cities,
as well as a good way to
reduce the number of accidents on Canadian roads.
The Railway Association
of Canada online poll was
conducted by Léger Marketing
in every province of Canada
with a representative sample
of 2,508 Canadians between
March 21st and March 27th,
2012. Margin of error of
+/- 2%, 19 times out of 20.
The success of GO Transit in Toronto, West Coast Express in Vancouver
and Agence métropolitaine de transport in Montreal all point to continued
growth of commuter services. ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
economy and in their commuter
habits.
Rail transportation provides
one of the nation’s best return-oninvestment options for creating a
less-congested, environmentally
friendly, national logistics network. The consensus that Canada
should continue to develop as
a rail nation reflects a common
sense approach to sustainable
growth, one that benefits commuters, the economy and the
environment simultaneously.
Rail transports the economy
Canada’s economy is reliant on a
robust combination of transportation modes, which together play
a critical role in ranking Canada
among the world’s 10 largest
economies with a GDP over $1.7
trillion. Canadians’ take on the rail
sector reflects this dependence,
with 93 per cent viewing freight
and passenger rail transportation as important to the national
economy.
Despite financial uncertainty
in key markets across the globe
in recent years, Canada’s vast
resource exports have helped
the country maintain a healthy,
export-rich economy. As the
backbone of a highly integrated
logistics network, Canadian railways have been instrumental in
solidifying this economic status.
Railways have leveraged trade
agreements and their outstanding relationships with regulatory
systems to collaborate with partners and maintain a high level of
functionality. We have effectively
and efficiently worked with our
partners – ports, terminals, shipping companies and the trucking
industry – to get products to external markets. Together, our job
as the transporters of goods is to
enable the competitiveness of our
customers. By allowing customers
to ship products in a timely way
to very specific markets, we are
enabling them to add value, raise
prices and create more wealth in
Canada. We’re at a point in history
where a new supply chain and the
infrastructure around it should
really be Canada’s focus going into
the future.
Rail transportation and
government
Our public opinion polling also
shows near-unanimous support
from Canadians for more investment in passenger rail. The federal
government has played an active
role in supporting the growth of
rail in Canada including allocating major capital upgrades to VIA
Rail for intercity travel in recent
years. Though Canada’s rail system
is maintained and developed
predominantly through annual
investments of more than $1.7 billion from the sector itself, a great
majority of Canadians (87%) think
the government should provide
funding for rail.
Whether for commuter rail
or intercity rail travel, there’s a
lot of support for passenger rail.
The success of companies like
GO Transit in Toronto, West
Coast Express in Vancouver
and Agence métropolitaine de
transport in Montreal all point to
continued growth. When those
organizations put a new railcar
on their tracks, they are doing
their part to reduce highway congestion, help the environment
and lower government costs for
highway infrastructure.
Canada’s rail sector has upheld
its commitment to growth, safety
and sustainability. The rail business is the story of Canada: our
country was built on a railway,
not a rebellion. The Railway Association of Canada and its members are primed to embrace the
sector’s position as a key player in
Canada’s future economic success.
Together
We deliver the goods
A true backbone of the economy
www.cn.ca