North America - For decades, conductors used hard copies of essential resources, from operating practices and safety books to timetables.
 
Five years ago, about three-quarters of crews across the CPKC network, especially in smaller yards, built their trains by reading rail car and train consist information off paper that was either faxed to their terminal or printed from a yard kiosk, according to the Class I.
 
"Today, more than 2,500 iPads have been deployed to conductors across Canada and in portions of the United States providing a real-time database, which enables fluid decision-making. It keeps everyone informed and up to date as conductors have access to all pertinent, on-duty documents electronically," CPKC reported.
 
With an iPad, a conductor can access exactly what equipment is in the yard, or customer facility, and use the device to optimize work orders.
 
In the past, a trainmaster or yardmaster would tell the crew what cars to put where, CPKC pointed out, and that often meant train crews would have to wait on verbal instructions, potentially causing delays.
 
"Our teams worked with Apple to roll out the devices while building a new mobile platform-enabled solution to serve the unique needs of our rail business. We created a custom enterprise solution by putting the conductors in the room with our developers to create a vision for how and where we can use the iPad to increase efficiency, productivity, and safety," said Caryna Pinheiro, CPKC Assistant Vice President Applications and Digital Services and Assistant Chief Information Officer.
 
Pam Arpin, CPKC Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer and one of 10 Railway Age reader picks for Most Influential Leader in 2023, said this CPKC program "gives thousands of our railroaders with boots on the ground the latest technology and tools they need to do their jobs the best they can. That is precision scheduled railroading."
 
Both Road Foreman Brandon Kaufman and Conductor Steve Channa have been pleased with the technology.
 
"I strongly believe that a digital interface, such as the iPads, is the way to go in railroading. With the iPads, our conductors have access to everything related to their train, their territories, and their work in general. With time, I have no doubt we will see more innovative apps arrive on the iPads that will continue to make our jobs more efficient, and less costly, which will only benefit our employees, our customers, the company, and shareholders in the long run," said Kaufman.
 
Added Channa, "I'm looking forward to what's in store for railroading with our digital access."
 
Marybeth Luczak.