The freight rail sector in North America was completely transformed in April 2023 with the establishment of Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC). The CPKC, the only single-line transcontinental railway connecting the United States, Canada, and Mexico, has its global headquarters located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It provides shippers with unmatched rail service, access to major North American ports, and global markets.
CPKC is a significant employer, neighbour, and supplier of transportation services to communities all over the continent, with 20,000 route miles under its belt and 20,000 railroad workers. The merger of Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS), two historic railroads, to form CPKC has gained momentum over time. This merger has increased supply chain competition and added value for customers while upholding the integration of operations, service, and safety.
In addition, this strategic union gave a rare chance to incorporate ethical business practices as the company develops for the future. Since the establishment of CPKC, early-stage integration initiatives involving workforce, systems, and governance have been the cornerstone of success. The company’s ability to maintain dedication to safety, facilitate smooth customer service delivery, and promote sustainable operations has all been aided by these calculated actions.
The company concluded 2023 with a great performance in a year that saw a lot of business change. After CP led the industry in this metric for 17 years running, CPKC now leads the Class I railroad industry with the lowest frequency of train accidents reported to the Federal Railroad Administration.
The company continued to invest in cutting-edge low-carbon technology and set a new climate target for the combined locomotive operations of CPKC. Through significant collaborations and worthwhile community investment projects, the company strengthened ties to the surrounding communities. As CPKC integrated, the company also reorganised the Diversity and Inclusion Council to guide the company’s efforts in this regard.
These significant actions distinctly show ongoing dedication to being a sustainability leader to workers, clients, suppliers, and the communities in which companies operate. Sustainability continues to be at the forefront of the company’s integration journey as it enters its second year.
A sustainably driven culture
It’s a big job to combine two railroads that run in three different countries with a diverse workforce of about 20,000 railroaders. Success at CPKC is largely attributed to its people and culture. Fostering a culture that is unified in the pursuit of safety excellence, best-in-class customer service, and ethical business practices has been one of the company’s main integration goals.
Ensuring safety is a fundamental aspect of a company’s operations, and upholding strict safety regulations is essential amidst the intricate transformations occurring within. Its premier safety initiative, Home Safe, was implemented throughout operational regions in Mexico and the Southern US in 2023.
The company strives to safeguard the environment, communities, railroad workers, and customers through Home Safe. Maintaining a daily commitment to being home safe, the company celebrates safety performance with the annual Safety Awards for Excellence and improves safety culture through quarterly safety walkabouts.
In order to proactively identify and address workplace hazards while promoting a safe working environment, safety walkabouts bring together management, members of the Workplace Health and Safety Committee, frontline railroaders, and various regulators.
The company’s “Home Safe” commitment and actions are embodied by many dedicated railroaders across the network. It honours these people’s dedication to upholding “Home Safe Values” and considering their coworkers’ well-being daily by recognising them each year at the CPKC Safety Awards for Excellence.
It also acknowledges that safety is a journey rather than a destination even as companies constantly strive to be safer today than they were yesterday. Its goal of becoming the safest freight railroad in North America will be pursued by reinforcing a strong safety culture.
To fully harness the potential of CPKC’s diverse workforce, which spans three countries, it is essential to foster a culture where all perspectives are valued and heard. To aid in developing a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy during the integration process, CPKC has established a Diversity and Inclusion Council, led by senior leaders.
To access the plethora of viewpoints held by CPKC employees, the council hosted fifteen virtual Diversity Dialogue engagement sessions. Participating in these sessions were more than 200 employees, whose insights helped shape how CPKC’s strategy developed over time.
As the company broadens its operational scope, these staffers assume greater accountability. Being a neighbour to hundreds of communities in North America, CPKC is committed to conducting its business safely and having a significant influence on the communities where it operates, lives, and works. The company increased public safety awareness and emergency response training in 2023 and engaged staff, local first responders, and other community stakeholders along the right of way.
“Over 4,000 emergency responders attended 82 community awareness and emergency training events that CPKC either organised or took part in. Its annual 2023 Holiday Train programme, which reaches communities across our network in Canada, the US, and Mexico in support of local food banks, raised CAD$1.8 million and collected over 160,000 pounds of food,” stated Glen Wilson, Assistant Vice-President, Environmental Risk, CPKC, while interacting with the World Finance.
CPKC climate strategy
An essential component of the shift to a lower-carbon economy is the transportation sector. Global trade relies heavily on freight rail, which transports goods over long distances more fuel-efficiently than long-haul trucking. By working innovatively and cooperatively with suppliers, customers, governments, and industry partners on climate solutions, CPKC hopes to lower operational emissions and bring about change in the freight rail sector.
The release of CPKC’s commitment to climate action, which outlines the goal of creating an emissions target in line with a 1.5°C future, was the venture’s early success. It also announced a goal to reduce well-to-wheel locomotive emissions by 369% per gross ton-mile by 2030 from the base year of 2020, which was validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative.
The company is still taking steps to lower operational emissions as it continues to hone its climate strategy, such as investigating and funding cutting-edge low-carbon solutions. This includes creating the first line-haul hydrogen-powered locomotive in North America, which uses batteries and fuel cells to run its electric traction motors.
In this ground-breaking project, the company has continued to reach significant benchmarks since the programme’s launch in 2020. It installed hydrogen production and fuelling facilities, finished two hydrogen locomotive conversions, and advanced production on a third in 2023. It jointly announced a joint venture with CSX to construct and operate hydrogen locomotive conversion kits at CSX’s West Virginia locomotive shop for diesel-electric locomotives.
The company achieved another significant milestone in March 2024 when the locomotive biofuel trial project celebrated its first anniversary. As part of this project, CPKC is testing the long-term operational effects of using diesel blended with 20% biodiesel renewable fuel within a fleet of locomotives.
The company is collaborating with industry peers and locomotive suppliers on this initiative. In 2023, it utilised over 8.2 million litres of B20 fuel in locomotive operations, completing more than 500 fuelling events. This effort resulted in an 18% reduction in overall emissions for each litre of B20 diesel fuel used in place of conventional diesel. This pilot project is crucial for validating the operational impacts of using advanced blends of renewable biofuels in CPKC’s locomotive fleet.
Through its capital expenditure programme, CPKC continues to upgrade its locomotive fleet and rail network in addition to investments in low-carbon initiatives. This improves overall efficiency and ensures system reliability. The company committed CAD 2,468 million in capital expenditures in 2023 to maintain and modernise the network and fleet of locomotives to boost overall productivity and guarantee system dependability.
These achievements highlight CPKC’s commitment to sustainable operations and its culture of continuous improvement. As the company progresses into its second year of integration, it remains focused on sustainability. CPKC is unwavering in its dedication to driving positive change both within the organisation and in the broader community.