C P Rail

I joined CP rail as a Train conductor in sparwood. First 6 months were suppose to be training part but they qualified us in 4 months. Because they were in need of people. Well, for us it was a good thing at that time as they don't pay much at the time of training. 
Overall experience was not very great for me as I love enjoying sometime with my friends and family and this job is for people who can live without it. Being on call was the hardest part and nothing on the system will tell you the right approximate time for you to start your shift. As there could be delays for hours and there could be cancellation or some senior will call in sick and you will get call to work at 11 pm to show up at work at 2 am. Seniority matters a lot in this job but it takes years for you to have that until then you just go with what they want you to do. Be available 365 days 24 hours every year and dont try to book any advance vacations or holidays because they can cancel those if some senior would like to book vacations at the same time. 
They will spend thousands of dollars to hire you and then train you but once you are qualified there focus will shift towards firing you or for suspending you for any silly mistakes. 
At one point I started thinking that is that really what I wanted to do with my life?

What is the best part of working at the company?
Worked at cp for 30 years and I still miss running trains but by far the way that cp treats there employees is absolutely disgusting, I’ve never seen a company that spends thousands of dollars getting you trained up to turn around and do there best to fire you. But away from the grossly mismanaged part of it the pay is very good and when you get away from the harassment (inside terminals) it is a good job. If they would stop the harassment I still think it would be one of the best jobs and it was at one time.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The harassment and constant abuse of good workers .

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It’s a tough lifestyle, you can never make plans unless you are on holidays but all you need to do is make the best of the time your at home.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Take trains from A to B without getting fired.

I trained a lot of new trainman when I worked there and asked each one what do you like about railroading, one students responds has never left me his reply dose sum it up, " It romantic I'm in love with it.". You know he was right, it is working on the trains all different weather, times, days, you see thing other people don't ever see. Good benifits and at frist it's hard on spare board but before you know your full time if fright keeps moving.

Physically and mentally demanding, no proper training. Tons of exams and highly fast paced training.
You're expected to get in board from day 1. No one will wait or have the patience to train and guide you. Trainers are often verbally abusive and disrespectful.
Management is like a headless chicken.
There is constant confusion and chaos with no one having the right answer and everyone to point a finger especially if you are at fault.
Very poor experience working with the company.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Nothing really because I had a green horn for a boss just off the docks in Vancouver.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Dealing with angry employees who worked for the company

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I worked in a dirty shack of a building.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Doing data entries into the computer.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Vast amount of opportunities for growth and advancement 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Long hours , variety of issues and variables 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mostly fine, a little bit of pettiness here and there

Great training ground for the basics in transportation. Very tariff driven and old school process. You are certainly get developing processes drilled into you.

You have to work along time to get good days off and good shifts otherwise  its pretty good to work there worked for 18yrs for CP and 12yrs for CN. Learned  how to work alot of different machines and great jobs 

Politics sadly still present this day and age. No leadership at lower levels and it’s too bad. Good employees that work as a team. Mid management. Ie superintendent to AVP level have no idea what’s going on at the shop levels. 

Toxic and (possibly purposefully) understaffed. Probably even worse if you’re union. Executives and upper management try to create division between teams to make you easier to control.

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