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Senior advisor, Mechanical Engineer, LDRR

Location: 

MONTREAL, Quebec, CA, H3K 3K2

Reference Number : 1218 

Status : Permanent - Full-time  

Annual Salary / Hourly Rate : 102 816 - 127 008

Number of positions to be filled : 1 

Application Deadline : 03/20/2026

 

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. 

 

Why Join VIA Rail? – Benefits That Move You Forward

At VIA Rail, we are committed not only to modernizing Canada’s passenger rail service, but also to creating a workplace where employees thrive. As part of the VIA Rail team, you can enjoy a wide range of benefits, including:

• Competitive compensation and performance‑based incentives
• Defined benefit pension plan ensuring long-term financial security
• Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and disability coverage
• Generous vacation allotment and personal days
• Rail travel privileges for you and your family
• Employee assistance program and wellness resources
• Continuous learning, training, and professional development opportunities
• A diverse, inclusive workplace that values collaboration and innovation


Join us and help shape the future of passenger rail in Canada—where your engineering expertise will make a lasting impact on reliability, safety, sustainability, and the passenger experience for generations to come.

 

POSITION: 

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Engineering, the Senior Advisor, Mechanical Engineering plays a key technical leadership role in ensuring VIA Rail’s new and future Rolling Stock fleets are designed for long-term maintainability, reliability, and operational excellence. You will work closely with the contractor’s technical teams and subject-matter experts to confirm that all design decisions support safe, efficient, and cost‑effective maintenance throughout the equipment’s lifecycle—and that they align with the needs of VIA’s maintenance teams and facilities.


This role is a cornerstone of VIA Rail’s governance and performance monitoring structure. During revenue service, you will participate in key processes such as the Failure Review Board, troubleshoot fleet defects alongside our Maintenance teams, contribute technical expertise, and help strengthen reliability for both the new Corridor fleet and the upcoming Long Distance, Remote and Regional (LDRR) fleet. As VIA Rail continues to modernize its operations, your engineering insight will become essential to the successful introduction and long-term performance of next‑generation rolling stock.


RESPONSIBILITIES:

Technical Support: Maintainability of design

  • Overseeing and collaborating with contractor’s technical team to ensure that the Locomotives are designed to be maintainable 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/comment completeness of the Maintenance Manuals including work instructions; 
  • Review/comment compliance of the executable Maintenance Plan, including associated contract deliverables; 
  • Review/Comment completeness and compliance of role specific Life Cycle Maintenance Schedule.  


Gouvernance & cross teams

  • Act as VIA’s Maintenance focused technical representative in Project Specific Failure Attribution meetings (Corridor and LDRR);
  • Lead FRACAS (Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System) governance and reliability reviews;
  • 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 its subsystems; 
  • Work together with VIA’s system’s engineers (design) to ensure a comprehensive technical dossier is created for each defect;
  • Ensure support to current corridor new fleet governance and apply lessons learned to new fleet LDRR.


Performance monitoring

  • Monitor the performance of the systems to ensure Contractor meets the Performance Regime targets of the contract (Corridor and LDRR);
  • 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);
  • Responsible for reliability performance of systems assigned to you, with support from senior engineers (Corridor and LDRR);
  • Perform Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) assessments (Corridor and LDRR).


Technical support: Operations (Corridor and LDRR):

  • 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.

 

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, or a related technical field;
  • Proven experience (10 years) in reliability engineering or maintenance, 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: Write, use, improve or comment inspection and repair procedures to ensure compliance to standards and regulations while allowing simple, concise and efficient work execution.Gather, understand and discern pertinent feedback from maintenance and operations staff. Perform fleetwide verifications and measurements on VIA’s rolling stock.Provide support to technicians;
  • Experience in design, design reviews and production implementation phases of a product: Excellent understanding of the design process and documentation (drawings, supplies lists, specifications) and how they relate to maintenance aspects such as maximised use common tools, standardised materials, hardware or consumables. Knowledge and experience in materials selection, tolerancing, finishes, heat treatments, assembly performance of fastening systems, mechanisms, stresses, vibration, heat transfer.Design or propose special tools, lifting attachments, adapters or fixtures if an opportunity to optimise maintenance or enhance safety is noted;
  • Proficiency in reliability analysis tools and methodologies such as FMEA, RAM analysis, fault tree analysis (FTA), FRACAS, and root cause analysis (RCA);
  • Strong problem-solving abilities with the capacity to analyze complex technical data and implement simple, elegant and 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;
  • Operational expertise in Rolling Stock equipment (asset);
  • During the project phase, the incumbent will be required to attend sessions at the contractor’s (or subcontractor’s) design, testing and manufacturing facilities. In addition, the incumbent will be required to attend sessions at VIA’s Maintenance facilities; principally, MMC, TMC, WMC and VMC. As such, travel to and from these locations should be expected.

 

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.

Join our 3,000 other employees in helping provide Canadians with a safe, accessible, environmentally sustainable way to travel!

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