Within CP Rail, the Transportation Department determines
the need for motive power. Its job is to be certain the tools are available that allow the railway to operate competitively
and profitably in Canada's transportation marketplace. The Mechanical Department is charged with the selection of motive
power to meet the needs of Transportation and with ensuring equipment is properly maintained and able to perform assigned
tasks. Over the past few years, both departments became aware that the motive power fleet was increasingly unable to meet
the demands placed upon it to provide the levels of dependable service required by CP Rail's customers. Yard power in
particular was a problem with outdated low-horsepower units unable to perform to today's standards, too many
units out of service becoming increasingly expensive to repair and growing numbers of road units being brought in to
alleviate yard problems.
To put the problem into perspective and to suggest solutions, the Transportation Department, in 1977,
undertook an exhaustive survey of the locomotive fleet. The study confirmed the ominous obsolescence of the fleet, that
increasing numbers were becoming unserviceable and impossible to maintain. This, plus the pressures created by increases in
traffic, meant more and more units were being brought in off the line to fill the power gap in the yards - as many as 130
road units were performing yard duty at one time - with consequent shortages in other areas. New power units were being
acquired with no planned approach to retiring older units. The conclusion was that CP Rail faced serious attrition within
the older segment of its locomotive fleet which in turn could have major implications on available power and on financial
investment.
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