Railway Association of Canada Honours Members With Industry Safety Awards

OTTAWA, Oct. 17, 2012 - The Railway Association of Canada (RAC) today announced the winners of the 2012 Safety Award. The awards were presented as part of the RAC's Canadian Rail Summit and annual meeting held in Montreal October 16 and 17.
Winners of the 2012 Safety Award are:

VIA Rail Canada Inc. for its conference on high-risk railway crossing awareness. VIA Rail Canada organized an event in Kingston, to raise awareness and promote prevention. Among the people in attendance were stakeholders from the provinces of Québec and Ontario including municipal/provincial police forces, Transport Canada, the Chief Coroner of Québec, Operation Lifesaver, and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC). VIA provided two round trip private cars, on trains departing Montreal and Toronto, for various law enforcement officials and stakeholders.

CN for its initiative to measure railway safety culture. CN developed a process for measuring safety culture in a manner aligned with the definition determined by a RSA Review Working group consisting of Transport Canada, industry and the unions and the Regulator. CN's measurement process, which has been added to its integrated audit program, provides both objective and subjective measurements of safety culture. CN was the first railway in North America to measure safety culture.

Montreal's Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) for its Railway Response Guide. AMT developed a Railway Response Guide for all emergency services in the Montreal metropolitan region. This Guide is a tool for developing familiarity with the technical issues inherent in all interventions in the railway sector, namely the equipment used, the procedures to be followed, the technical characteristics of railway transportation as well as the manner in which work is organized at AMT and by its partners.

QNSL, having seen its trains experiencing air leaks as a result of the harsh weather, started using a portable device that could detect air leaks during train inspections, using ultrasound to detect these leaks. This detection makes it possible to proceed to minor repairs and thus greatly reduces the total leak on a train and increase reliability during operation.?The Safety Award officially recognizes the rail industry's contribution to safe transportation and encourages the industry to continue adopting better working and operating practices, as well as enhancing general public awareness of rail safe practices.
About the Railway Association of Canada?The Railway Association of Canada represents some 50 goods, tourist, commuter and intercity Rail businesses in Canada, their more than 32,000 employees and over 60 associate member suppliers and partners. RAC acts to inform officials, develop programs, policies and resources and respectfully communicate with the public and media to strengthen the role and capacity of Rail to deliver leading services that are economically viable, socially cohesive, future focused and environmentally sustainable.