Sean Finn

To the casual eye, trains are ageless, enduring things. As constant change upends and reinvents modern life, trains roll on implacably; massive, stolid locomotives hauling processions of cars that stretch out of vision. 

Their presence is abiding. There’s a reason for the romantic treatment trains are afforded in songs and literature. And it is true that their basic function is pretty much the same as it was 100 years ago. The laws of physics make the relatively frictionless momentum of steel wheels running on steel track a transportation method of unmatched efficiency.

But the trains of here and now are as different from their predecessors a few decades ago as, say, the relatively simple motor under the hood of a ‘66 Chevy and the sealed, computerized power plant of a modern luxury SUV. The trains CN runs nowadays are more efficient, far safer, and wreathed in leading-edge technology.

The SUV, for example, would be expected to come equipped with an array of sensors and emitters that constantly measure the proximity of other cars. In all likelihood, it would have a collision avoidance system that slams on the brakes to prevent a crash.

Well, so do modern CN trains. Our locomotives may not appear high-tech, but they have evolved into highly computerized juggernauts, guided by artificial intelligence and sensors, monitored from above, below and alongside. Those cars they haul include boxcars, tank cars filled with liquids, intermodal cars that transfer seamlessly among trains, trucks and ships, hopper cars for grain, tri-level cars for automobiles, and centrebeam cars designed to efficiently ship bundled construction material. A modern train is often more than a mile long. 

As CN trains roll, they pass through special portals stuffed with high-resolution cameras powered by AI algorithms that can find defects invisible to the human eye. CN tracks, meanwhile, are alive with detectors trained on the wheels and undersides of cars and locomotives—looking for dragging equipment, or a hot wheel, a cold wheel, an overheated bearing, a wheel with a flat spot, or just about any other imperfection. The detector network is wired to a central computer, and, quite simply, it prevents derailments. At the same time, our trains inspect our tracks. Downfacing sensors combined with AI technology take endless images of every track component. Ultrasound technology looks for internal track defects. Ground-penetrating radar assesses conditions beneath tracks. Our locomotives are also vastly more fuel-efficient than they were even a couple of decades ago (CN leads the industry in reducing fuel consumption), and they are controlled by optimizers that compute and execute optimal acceleration, speed and deceleration. And of course, train schedules grow ever more precise. CN’s digital scheduled railroading enables ever-better coordination with customers and partners, creating value and increasing competitiveness in the industry.

I could go on, believe me. Our technical catalog is vast, and to a proud career railroader, fascinating. But it is our increasing precision and efficiency, and the competitive pressures those advances impose on our industry, that are, to put it mildly, transformative and urgently needed.

As we saw during the pandemic, railways are the very definition of an essential service. From the moment COVID-19 erupted, CN trains kept running. They never flagged. As a result, manufacturers kept receiving crucial materiel, store shelves remained stocked, demand for food and essentials was met, the gears of the economy ground on, and our way of life remained intact, if somewhat disrupted.

But the pandemic also exposed our vulnerabilities. And as we emerge from a year and a half unlike anything any of us has ever seen, it’s time to consider some serious adjustments. By now, we all know about the supply chain chokepoints that have disrupted global commerce and led to widespread shortages of just about everything imported from manufacturers in Asia. If North American consumers weren’t aware of their fragile dependence on overseas suppliers before COVID-19 struck, they certainly are now. President Joe Biden—himself a train lover—has struck a task force to study the problem, which the White House says “threatens America’s economic and national security.”

Without question, governments in Canada, the United States and Mexico will conclude, among other things, that heavy dependence on distant global supply chains is unwise. That will mean a push to reverse the “offshoring” trend, and replace it with, for lack of a better term, “nearshoring.” Supply chains will inevitably need to be shortened and made more reliable.

Which brings me to our great matter (apologies to Henry VIII). 

CN is in the process of merging with another Class One railway; Kansas City Southern. If our new combination is approved by American regulators, and we are confident it will be, CN will become the first and only truly North American railway. And as a true North American railway, one that can guarantee shippers and their customers smooth, safe, seamless carriage from Prince Rupert to Halifax to Chicago to New Orleans to Mexico City to Veracruz—and all the points in between—we will be perfectly situated to provide those shorter, more dependable supply lines our economies will need in the 21^st century.

CN’s tracks already span Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and reach down through the American heartland to ports on the Gulf Coast. Merging with KCS will extend our reach to 18 states and deep into Mexico, to ports on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts. We will play a major role in ensuring a secured supply chain across North America. The further efficiencies of our merged network will enhance competition, and boost several sectors, including grain, lumber, automotive, plastics, petroleum and intermodal importers and exporters. We will be able to offer an auto manufacturer in Michigan the ability to quickly and reliably source parts from factories in Mexico rather than Asia. 

The updated version of NAFTA, the new Canada-US-Mexico trade treaty, stipulates new domestic and regional content requirements. What could possibly enable that better than a railway spanning all three signatory nations? Grain farmers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kansas would have expanded, easier access to global markets. Ethanol producers in Iowa would have direct access to markets in Mexico. Homebuilders in Ontario and Texas would have expanded supply networks for lumber. Poultry farmers in Quebec and Arkansas would have new options for sourcing feed ingredients. And no faraway bottlenecks, no disruptions, no sudden, business-wrecking shortages.

Our merger will also make CN, already one of the greenest forms of shipment, even more so. One train can take hundreds of trucks off our highways. We believe our truly North American iteration will persuade more shippers to shift their business from long-haul trucks to trains. We calculate that on a single route, from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to Detroit, moving freight from trucks to trains would eliminate 260,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year. And of course, there are many routes other than that one.

CN has not just committed to providing a more competitive industry, we guarantee we’ll provide new levels of pricing transparency and shipping options. We will increase route choices, supply chain resiliency and bargaining power for shippers. And we will do it safely. Integrated North American shipping networks are our future. CN and Kansas City Southern are prepared to spend what it takes to step up. 

Our trains are neither your grandfather’s trains, nor your mother’s, for that matter. And our tracks are the veins and arteries of our ever more connected economies. We mean to connect the continent, to secure its supply chains. And the next time we face a trial like the one we are only now coming through, our commerce will be more resilient, and more secure, as a result.

Sean Finn is Executive Vice-President, Corporate Services and Chief Legal Officer at CN and former Chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and of the Quebec federation of chambers of commerce. sean.finn@cn.ca