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Network Management
Moves to
Calgary
By Ian La Couvee
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Canadian Pacific steam locomotive number 29 in Calgary - 28 May 2009 William
Slim. |
They are to the railway's operations what coaches are to football teams.
They develop strategy, call the plays, and revise the game plan as events unfold.
They're the recently established team of service planners at CP Rail System, the 80 or so employees who staff the railway's new
Network Management Centre (NMC) in Calgary.
The centre officially opened in February, in temporary quarters at the railway's Palliser Square offices in Calgary.
The centre is a new concept at CPRS, the brainchild of those who took part in last year's sweeping organizational review.
Growing out of a desire to create a more coordinated railway, the NMC will draw together employees from a number of key departments at CPRS.
Customer Commitments
At the centre, this new team of coordinators and planners will oversee day-to-day, system-wide transportation scheduling, as well
as the distribution of locomotives, train, and work crews, all in step with customer commitments.
"It really will be the railway's nerve centre, coordinating the day-to-day planning across our core lines," Paul Nimigon, the newly
appointed general manager of service planning, said.
Transportation's service design group, working with its partner departments in operations and commercial, will manage long-term planning for
the railway, but the NMC will become the short-term planning headquarters, keeping an eye on operations within a 28-day time-frame, Nimigon said.
The centre, which will operate around the clock, seven days a week, will also take over the locomotive distribution functions of the
Operations Service Centre in Montreal and Operations Control Center in Milwaukee.
NMC staff will rotate in two 12-hour, daily shifts, co-ordinated by one of five directors appointed earlier this year. The five
directors, reporting to Nimigon, are Dave dePelham, Jim Bender, Terry Gloutney, Mark Rickerby, and Chris Carroll.
Chinook Team
A small group of NMC staffers, called the Chinook Team, who will be the centre's pioneers, arrived during the first week of February
for a seven-day simulated trial run at the temporary quarters in Palliser Square, which Nimigon calls the NMC's "testing ground".
This team will be testing technology, communications, and the NMC's operating plan. As well, it will provide input into the design of
the centre that eventually will be housed at the railway's new headquarters in Calgary.
The 10 service co-ordinators at the centre, each representing a different line of business, will be in regular contact with the railway's
customer representatives, providing the NMC with an unwavering insight into the marketplace and focusing on day-to-day customer commitments.
As well, field operations will have five district coordinators at the NMC to represent each of the railway's core districts west of Toronto.
They will coordinate operating plans with each of the major yards and work with the Crew Management Centre to dispatch train crews as required.
At the same time, teams of planners will support the operating plans and the work of engineering and mechanical services.
"In a sense, the (NMC) is a microcosm of the railway. Our staff is a cross-section of the system, with links to every department that plays a
role in the movement of traffic or work crews across our network," Nimigon said.
The Eastern Operating Unit (EOU) will establish its own NMC modeled on the Calgary centre and responsible for day-to-day transportation and service
planning for the CPRS network in Eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S., he added.
The NMC staff in Calgary will maintain on-going links with other railway departments, ensuring continuous communication with virtually every
employee with a hand on the throttle that propels the railway from Vancouver to Toronto and the network in the U.S. Midwest
Link to Information Systems
The NMC's custom-designed software applications will be linked with the railway's primary information systems, including Master Train Plan,
Freight System Operating Plan, Locomotive Management System, Train Performance Management Application, and Shipment Management System.
"Every operating group will have a pipeline into the centre. Our links with the rest of the railway, including the EOU, will ensure a
continuous cycle of information and communication, giving employees at the centre the most up-to-date and accurate account of events as they occur
across the network," Nimigon said.
"The centre essentially gives the railway an eye on every inch of its network at every minute of the day. We'll be able to control and
coordinate traffic across the system and, because of that, we'll be able to provide the optimum service to the customer which is our mandate."
The new centre is a ground-breaking development for CPRS, Nimigon said.
"It's the first time in the railway's history that we'll have all the key planners and service coordinators in one centre. It gives us
flexibility and speed in the decision-making process, which ultimately helps us to improve our service and maintain a cost-effective flow
of traffic."
The railway is a perpetually changing operation, one that's affected by everything from customer demand to workforce availability to weather
conditions, creating a never-ending customer service challenge, Nimigon said.
"To keep the railway moving optimally, you need a quick and accurate flow of information and the ability to quickly adapt to changing
events. The Network Management Centre will give us that strength." |
