CP Tooting Its Own Horns—For Others
Written by David C. Lester, Engineering Editor and Editor-in-Chief, Railway Track & Structures
Most of us are aware of the heroic and dedicated work performed around the clock by health care workers and first responders in the daily battle against the coronavirus, which has had its grip on our planet for the past several months. Moreover, many have likely seen various tributes to these front-line workers in the form of neighborhoods around the world singing, playing music, banging pots and pans, and making noise to honor these professionals. The FDNY has even assembled fire trucks at various hospitals and medical centers with emergency lights flashing and sirens blaring.
Canadian Pacific has joined this effort by having all locomotives on the railroad, whether they are stopped or hauling trains, to perform a long blowing of their air horns each day at 7 p.m. local time.
In a memo to operations employees obtained by the Toronto Sun, CP Executive Vice President Operations Mark Redd said, “The sounding of CP whistles joins the global movement to recognize critical health care and frontline workers during these unprecedented times. Our whistles also remind communities of the service the CP family provides North America every day.” This daily recognition will continue indefinitely.
“Railway workers are among the tens of thousands of essential workers transporting goods and commodities across Canada and the United States as much of the world shelters-in-place against the deadly respiratory disease,” The Toronto Sun noted. “The whistle tribute is the same afforded to veterans on Remembrance Day, when all trains across the network come to a halt and sound their whistles at 11 a.m.” Remembrance Day coincides with Veterans Day in the U.S.
