Senior Advisor, Locomotive Reliability

 Reference Number : 811 

Status : Permanent - Full-time  

Annual Salary / Hourly Rate : $102 816 - $127 008

Number of positions to be filled : 1 

Application Deadline : 05/19/2025

Did you know that VIA Rail is carrying out ambitious projects to modernize its services and infrastructure? From our new ultramodern train fleet to ongoing improvement of our infrastructure, we’re building the future of transportation in Canada. Working for VIA Rail is being a part of a collective effort in sustainable mobility. 

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Maintenance Program implementation and RAMS, the Senior Advisor, Locomotive Reliability (Mechanical) will oversee and collaborate with the contractor’s technical team to ensure that the Locomotives are designed to be maintainable throughout their projected lifespan and specifically within VIA’s Maintenance facilities and with VIA’s Maintenance employees. This role involves overseeing the contractor’s TSSSA Technical Advisor (SME)’s review and sign-off that the Locomotive design is maintainable and ensuring the completeness of the Maintenance Plan and associated Maintenance Manuals.

In addition, during Revenue service, the Senior Advisor, Locomotive Reliability is a key participant in the Performance Monitoring governance process including active participation in the Failure Review Board sessions. The Senior Advisor is also responsible to support the Equipment Maintenance team on troubleshooting and investigations of current defects and to provide technical expertise guidance.

Responsibilities:

Technical Support: Maintainability of design:

• Overseeing and collaborating with the contractor’s technical team to ensure that the Locomotives are designed to be maintainable and consistent with the requirements of the Maintenance Requirements Specifications for the Maintenance Contract;
• Overseeing contractor’s SME’s review and sign off on the maintainability of the design, Including Maintainability Demonstrations;
• Review and comment completeness of the Maintenance Manuals including work instructions;
• Review and comment compliance of the executable Maintenance Plan, including associated contract deliverables;
• Review and comment completeness of the Master Spares List;
• Review and comment completeness and compliance of role specific Life Cycle Maintenance Schedule.

Gouvernance and cross teams

• Act as VIA’s Maintenance focused technical representative in Project Specific Failure Attribution meetings;
• Act as VIA’s Maintenance focused technical representative in Failure Review Board meetings;
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including design, operations, maintenance, and quality assurance to align maintenance requirements into executable tasks;
• Develop and maintain relationships with contractor and other external / internal parties to ensure knowledge acquisition and transfer to sustain the reliability of the locomotive and it’s subsystems;
• Work together with VIA’s system’s engineers (design) to ensure a comprehensive technical dossier is created for each defect.

Performance monitoring

• Monitor the performance of the systems to ensure Contractor meets the Performance Regime targets of the contract;
• Support the investigation of locomotive and sub-system failures, review contractor’s reports and review/comment suggested technical modifications to the maintenance plan (or manuals);
• Perform Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) assessments.

Technical support: Operations

• Act as the system SME and provide on-site support for technicians, technical advisors and suggest training improvements;
• Act as the system SME for adapting the Contractor’s Maintenance Program to VIA Rail’s new Maintenance Process;
• Address technical questions and evaluate contractor’s recommendations, as well as provide technical expertise for troubleshooting.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, or a related technical field;
• Proven experience (10 years) in reliability engineering, preferably within the railway or transportation industry (a combination of experience and education may be considered);
• Practical background: experience and motivation to work in shop and maintenance environment to:
  • Understand and evaluate inspection and repair procedure effectiveness and compliance.
  • Gather pertinent feedback from maintenance and operations staff.
  • Perform fleetwide verifications and measurements on VIA’s rolling stock.
• Experienced participant in the Rolling Stock design reviews and production implementation phases of similar projects: 
  • Excellent understanding of the design process and design documentation and how they relate to maintenance aspects.

Competencies:

• Excellent written and verbal proficiency in both official languages (English/French);

• Proficiency in reliability analysis tools and methodologies such as FMEA, RAM analysis, fault tree analysis (FTA), and root cause analysis (RCA);
• Strong problem-solving abilities with the capacity to analyze complex technical data and implement effective solutions;
• Excellent communication skills for presenting technical reports and interacting with both internal teams and external stakeholders;
• Proficiency in using reporting tools and coding (e.g. PowerBI, SQL, Python);
• Strong project management skills and the ability to manage resources, timelines, and priorities;
• Results-driven with a focus on quality and operational excellence;
• Detail-oriented and committed to safety, reliability, and long-term performance;
• Familiarity with environmental, health and safety policies as they apply to a maintenance work environment;
• Collaborative team player with excellent interpersonal skills;
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment. 

At VIA Rail, we are proud to be an employment-equity employer and we strive to form teams that reflect the diversity of Canadian society. We aim to remove barriers to employment accessibility and aspire to provide an inclusive and equitable work environment where everyone is valued, regardless of their identity or differences, to enable them to reach their full potential.

If you need assistance in making the recruitment process or the position you are applying for more accessible, please let us know. Alternate arrangements may be offered to individuals who request them at any stage of the recruitment process. All information received in relation to arrangements will be kept confidential.

Note that we will only contact those who are selected for an interview.

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