The Facility Management team at CN’s largest railyard, MacMillan Yard near Toronto, ON, recently completed a three-year project to improve the lighting in the yard and parking areas. “Our main goal,” says Facility Manager and EcoChampion Bernard Miville-Deschenes “was to decrease our annual electricity consumption and related costs. But we also knew from experience that better lighting would also improve safety and operational efficiency.”

Back in 2018, Facility Supervisors and EcoChampions John David (JD) Keating and Eric Tsoi worked with Energy Manager and EcoChampion Hamid Kazmi to have an electrical audit of the entire yard done. “The result,” says JD, “was a detailed plan in three phases to replace all the existing lights with new, high-efficiency LEDs.”

Completed in 2021, the lighting project has reduced the yard's annual energy consumption by more than 950,000 kWh, produced yearly cost savings of over $150,000, and improved employee safety and efficiency.

“All the work was performed in-house by CN craftsmen,” says Eric, “and we’d like to express our sincerest appreciation to the following unionized employees for their dedication to the environment:

• Honorio (Roy) Agustin, Electrician
• Paul Alexander, Electrician
• Grant Beitz, Electrician
• Ryan Ciana, Bench Carpenter
• Giovani Fusco, Electrician Lead Hand
• Salvatore Greco, Electrician Lead Hand
• Jason Little, Foreman
• Jamie Lynch, Electrician
• James Prins, Electrician

CN’s EcoConnexions Employee Engagement program – a partnership with Earth Rangers – drives sustainability across CN's network by empowering employees and their families to conserve energy, reduce waste, and improve housekeeping.

Visit our "Delivering Responsibly" section to learn more about sustainability at CN.