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Mr. Hemphill, CN bashing, & anecdotal truth?

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Firstoff I must admit that I like trains. I have been associated for several years being the chairman of a shortline railroad and on the board of a large metropolitan rail and bus transit agency. I also work in the oil and gas industry as an upstream consulting engineer. ALL companies are in business for one reason only-to make money. Each company picks out its nitch and tries to make money there. Exxon picked oil, GM picked venicles, UP picked railroading, etc. If a company could not make money in their chosen line they disappear. Think Rock Island, Studebaker, Braniff Airways. Railroads have to run a tight ship to be profitable. Their return on invested capital is one of the lowest of the Fortune 500. The CN was a ward of the Canadian government for decades. As we know government is not efficient. Look at the old post office. The employees of CN knew they had a fat cow with lifetime employment while under the wing of the Canadian government. Innovation and improvement are not words known by government run companies. In many parts of the world government jobs are patronage based. Vote the right way and we will give you a job and you do not even have to show up too often. Before CN was privitized they had one of the poorest operating ratios in the industry. Along comes Paul Tellier with the mandate to take the privitized company and whip it into shape. This he did and CN now has the best operating ratio of the Class 1s. In the process several apple carts and fifedoms were upset. No wonder the workers are grumbling. The gravey train has stopped and the workers must do a decent days work for a decent wage. Do not get me wrong. The vast majority of the employees were and are dedicated workers who were going the extra mile even before privatization. My hat is off to them for doing a super job in keeping the railroad running. It is the slakers who are forced to work for a change who are doing all the squawking.
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