Established in 1881, Canadian Pacific Railway [CP Rail] was formed to physically unite Canada and Canadians from coast to coast. The construction of the railway is considered to be one of Canada’s greatest feats of engineering. In fact, the common phrase “the last spike” arose from CP’s completion of the railway. Today, CP Rail is one of Canada’s most well-known transportation brands, offering transportation services and supply chain expertise with access to eight major ports and key markets across North America.
As a result of its on-going work transporting containers to the port of Montreal and CP’s rail yard in Vaughan, CP Rail became aware of Musket Transport as well as its commercial truck driver training school, CHET. As CHET’s trust, credibility, and reputation have grown in the transportation community, large corporate entities like CP Rail are recognizing the value of contracting CHET for assistance in providing their employees with quality transport truck driving training.
Currently, CP Rail is in the process of considerable corporate restructuring. The company consequently no longer has the in-depth expertise and capacity necessary to provide extensive in-house training in preparing their own people to drive their trucks. Due to the significant downsizing of its long-standing training departments, CP Rail turned to CHET seeking a partnership to provide transport truck training and support to its employees.
To help bridge the training gap, CHET introduced a customized training program uniquely tailored to CP’s specialized trucks and conveyance equipment. After meeting with CP Rail in January of 2018, CHET management was able to survey the prospective yard(s) where training would be located, and prepare for any variations that might be presented. CHET initiated a highly targeted training regimen designed to allow CP Rail employees to complete this training full time in a short duration, after which time they can be tested by the province to obtain their commercial license.
Due to recent changes in job availability at CP, CHET has optimized its custom training regimen for the higher level license (a 1Q in Alberta). CP has committed to start offering this training in either Alberta or BC at one of its rail yards. While training is still being offered at CP rail’s yards, advanced CHET training will now address the need for working with trailing equipment as well as basic commercial trucks.
In order to ensure success, students must demonstrate dedication and be self-motivated to review materials independently in the evenings as well as prepare for tests. For convenience and efficiency, CP Rail students will utilize CHET’s online Student Portal to complete their homework. The portal will also serve to provide up to date information about our Mandatory Entry Level Training (MELT) program, which many of the western provinces are in the process of adopting. Because we already have a year of experience delivering MELT, CHET has been able to create a better finished product in terms of safety, compliance and general knowledge.
Because the training and intensive curriculum will prepare students for the job that awaits them, CP Rail is covering the full cost of training and students are required to remain with the company for a designated time period to put their new skills to use.
The opportunity to partner with CP Rail and provide quality specialized driver training to its employees demonstrates the trust and credibility CHET has earned as a training school not just locally, but nationwide. If your company is seeking specialized driver training for members of your team, contact CHET today.