November 24, 2010

VIA Rail Awards Contract to KMI for Safety and Risk Management Software


November 24, 2010 (Montreal, QC) – VIA Rail Canada today announced that it has selected KMI, a software firm based in Oakville, Ontario, to upgrade the corporation’s environmental and safety management systems. The $270,000 contract, which is entirely funded by the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, will provide VIA with KMI’s integrated software to centralize environment, health and safety data collection, event reporting and analysis throughout the corporation’s coast-to-coast network. KMI’s Incident Management, Corrective Action, and Reporting & Dashboard systems will be implemented at all VIA locations across Canada by the end of the year.

VIA became one of the first railways in Canada to implement an integrated safety management system in 2001, and has continually refined and expanded the system since then.

Jean Tierney, VIA’s Senior Director, Safety, Security and Risk Management said that “the new software suite will centralize and streamline the process for analyzing environmental, health and safety data. It will also provide managers real time statistical performance data for trend and risk analysis, from all sites across Canada, rolled up to the corporate level. The KMI software suite gives us the enhanced functionality and flexibility we need to make the entire system more efficient and cost-effective.”

The system upgrade is part of the Government of Canada’s unprecedented $923 million capital investment to modernize passenger rail infrastructure, equipment and technology. “Safety is a top priority for our government”, said the Honourable Rob Merrifield, Canada’s Minister of State (Transport). “This investment leverages the best possible information technology to safeguard employees, customers and communities served by passenger rail across the country.”

Matt Airhart, Director of Business Development for KMI, added: “Everyone at KMI has been very excited to work with VIA Rail Canada. Our fully configurable, multilingual and web based system will provide VIA Rail employees an easy to use tool for reporting hazards and incidents while tracking investigations and corrective actions. The ability for management to quickly access real time performance statistics across all regions of Canada and execute action plans targeting risk throughout the organization will lead to significant safety improvements and cost savings.”

About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada’s national rail passenger service, VIA Rail Canada's mandate is to provide efficient, environmentally sustainable and cost-effective passenger transportation to Canadian travellers in both official languages. Every week VIA operates 503 intercity, transcontinental and regional trains linking 450 communities across its 12,500 kilometre route network. The demand for VIA services is growing as travelers increasingly turn to train travel as a safe, reliable and environmentally responsible alternative to congested roads and airports. VIA safely transports over four million passengers annually.

About KMI
KMI is becoming the industry standard in flexible, scalable and usable web-based software solutions that help companies operate more sustainably, safely and efficiently. KMI enables companies to reduced injuries, increase the effectiveness of regulatory compliance initiatives, manage Greenhouse Gas reporting and initiate or improve corporate sustainability programs. KMI is a trusted supplier of EHS Management Information Systems (EMIS) to global manufacturing, energy, mining, biotech and transportation companies ranging in size from hundreds to over a hundred thousand employees. For more information visit www.kminnovations.com.

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