Job Summary
The incumbent is responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the locomotive and car shops through unionized staff to ensure locomotive and railcar inspection, maintenance and repair work is performed safely and efficiently. The role is an on-call position that reports to remote locations and supervises the maintenance, inspection, rerailing and repair of railcars and locomotives when required outside of main terminals. The incumbent handles the day-to-day operations of a 24/7 function, and the role is critical to ensuring availability, reliability and dwell targets are met to achieve CN's commitment to its customers.
Main Responsibilities
Safety Orientation, Compliance and Implementation
- Coach and train employees on safe and productive work procedure
- Complete online Locomotive and Car Failure Investigations and follow-up to include corrective action
- Oversee train accidents both line of road and inside yard limits
- Build safety compliance and improve safety results through regular efficiency tests and safety walkabouts
- Provide positive and constructive feedback to subordinates and act on non-compliant behaviour
- Respond to dangerous good incidents and leaks in the yard
- Liaise with Dangerous Goods Officer and ensure employee and public well-being is upheld
- Create, train, audit and implement standard operating procedures
- Ensure safe operation as measured by accidents, incidents and employee injuries
- Support the onboarding and training activities of new employees and supervisors
- Ensure Performance Monitoring Compliance Rules (PMRC) targets, expectations, objectives are met and monitor completion and compliance accordingly
- Create preventative maintenance plans and ensure execution on yard vehicles and equipment
- Meet audit and compliance requirements (e.g., Association of American Railroads (AAR) inspections, chain inspections, qualification recertification, equipment)
- Respond immediately and take corrective actions regarding raised safety concerns
- Ensure active involvement in Workplace Location Joint Apprentice Committee (WLJAC)
Problem Solving and Decision Making
- Maintain teamwork and order amongst staff, contractors and internal clients by acting with a sense of urgency to respond to issues as they may arise
- Use CN data to analyze locomotive and car inspections, repair and maintenance requirements to ensure fleet reliability
- Make final decisions on locomotive and railcar repairs and act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the repair and maintenance of locomotives and railcars
- Respond to trouble-calls for assigned region and delegate proper responses accordingly
- Control wrecking response to yard and line outages, working with Transportation and Engineering and direct reports to efficiently restore service to the operation
Planning and Organizing Workload
- Ensure the workforce is utilized effectively regarding the inspection and preventative maintenance of locomotives and by inspecting, testing and repairing railcars
- Certify that repair, inspection and productivity standards are in accordance with the service plan
- Prioritize the repair of locomotives and cars, against multiple demands, to reduce dwell times in order to increase reliability and availability
- Drive locomotive fleet reliability by ensuring direct reports are adhering to the preventative maintenance schedule and repairs to increase locomotive availability
- Drive freight car fleet reliability as measured by bad order status, percentage of cars available and initial terminal delay
- Ensure overall utilization is maximized, as measured by productivity, attendance and labour costs
Leadership and Supervision
- Communicate company goals and policies to create a clear understanding of direction and expectations
- Evaluate employee performance and review performance expectations, actual performance, and overall performance ratings for reports
- Conduct investigations per collective agreement and issue discipline in collaboration with function's Leadership team
- Develop and sustain the right employee behaviours with feedback, recognition, reinforcement and coaching
- Ensure direct reports validate payroll and time off requests
- Handle accounts payable by paying and authorizing invoices
Working Conditions
The role is performed in outdoor environments with various weather conditions with an irregular workweek that includes rotating shifts (days, afternoons, midnights) to cover 24/7 operations. The role involves managing priorities and delivering work within established timelines, with support from the team to ensure sustainable and effective workload management. The role requires being on-call 24/7 to respond to critical incidents.Requirements
Experience
Electrical and Mechanical Environments
- Between 1 to 3 years of experience in a Shop Environment
- Minimum 4 years supervisory experience of both union and non-union employees*
- Minimum 3 years experience in railroad Mechanical Shopcraft or comparable position*
- Candidates with an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience will be considered
Any requirement marked with (*) will be considered an asset (not mandatory).
Education/Certification/Designation
- High School Diploma or General Educational Development (GED)
- Valid Driver's Licence
- Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering*
- Technician or Technologist Diploma in Mechanical or Electrical*
- Candidates with equivalent practical experience, education, or training will be considered
Any requirement marked with (*) will be considered an asset (not mandatory).
Competencies
- We Care About Each Other
- We Strive for Excellence
- We Succeed Together
- We Lead Responsibly
- Vision and strategic thinking
- Impactful and inclusive leadership
- Performance and value delivery
- Empowerment and talent development
- Strategic communication and influence
- Managerial courage and decisiveness
- Compliance
- High
- Planning
- Coordination
- Prioritization
Technical Skills/Knowledge
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office (Excel, Word), Service Reliability Systems (SRS), Systems, Applications, and Products (SAP), Performance Analysis Process (PAP), Real Time Business Intelligence (RTBI), DataCity and Learning Management System (LMS)
- Comprehensive knowledge of locomotive construction and operation, inspection and repair
- Knowledge of Transportation Canada and the Federal Railroad Administration regulations
Organizational Impact