Southern Railway of British Columbia Employee Reviews

The job itself is very good. Management however makes this place a very horrible place to work. They try fire people for no reason. They also pick on people who stand up for what they believe in and don't do what they are told if it goes against the collective agreement.

Pros

Good co-workers, Good job and well paid.

Cons

Management

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Official response from Southern Railway of British Columbia

6 March 2020

Based on the date of this review and the events that occurred at that time, I can understand this reviewer's comments and frustrations towards management.We are now in 2020, almost 5 yrs later, with a new management team who are working on improving relations with employees and changing the company culture for the better! Like anything else, it takes time for change and employees are seeing a positive difference.

Totally unproductive and constant pressure to explain calculations and results.

Supervisor Engineering Services (Former Employee) - New Westminster, BC - 4 June 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Retirement, I did not feel that the company appreciated my contributions.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Lack of peer support and always being the scapegoat for others mistakes.What is the work environment and culture like at the company?The work environment is demeaning, bullying and stressful.What is a typical day like for you at the company?Clock watching is it time to go home.

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Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, they do.

Engineer (Current Employee) - New Westminster, BC - 28 January 2022

Through the years I worked here, I watched this place go from a decent place to work with a decent work/life balance, perks, benefits and pay to a place where hopes and dreams go to die. This place continues to treat its operational workforce like garbage. After years of record breaking productivity how does southern railway reward the people who grind it out every day? By locking their employees out, slashing benefits with every contract, poor wage increases, heavier workloads, denied breaks, intimidation tactics, and the list goes on. They have hired a bunch of ex class one railway management, most of which have been fired from their previous railways for all sorts of shady reasons. The workplace has gotten so toxic, that they have had 16 people flee operations in one year. From new hires to people that have been there for 20 years. They can't keep people and can't find replacements because of the pay, workload and toxic work enviroment.

Pros

Free coffee(if you're actually allowed to take a break to have some), work gloves provided, coveralls provided, some of the operational employees are enjoyable to be around

Cons

Shiftwork, poor wages, outdated equipment, toxic work enviroment, brutal work/life balance, poor leadership, no future, unhealty enviroment(air quality, chemicals), poor training

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Pretty good place to work

Service Representative/Business Developer (Former Employee) - Vancouver, BC - 27 July 2017

Overall pretty good experience at SRY. The union brothers and sisters make it a fun job, management is easyish to talk to, and it doesn't try and run/act like a class 1

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Official response from Southern Railway of British Columbia

6 March 2020

SRY is a short-line railway and because of that, we are able to operate differently than the class 1's where employees are home at the end of their shift to be with friends and family. We are also a smaller organization where employees easily can walk up to any senior management team member to chat and freely speak their mind if they so choose to. At SRY, we know the names of all our employees and they are not treated like a payroll number.