An odd machine has recently been built on the train tracks near the town of Ste. Anne.

This large box-shaped contraption is called an Automated Rail Car Inspection Portal. According to CN Senior Vice-President Scott Daniels, these machines are filled with LED lights and high definition cameras that instantly capture a full 360-degree view of the train when it drives through at normal 60mph speeds. These scans are meant to identify mechanical malfunctions.

The portal has an assortment of LED lights and cameras

“We are attempting to go from a manual inspection where we use the human eye to an automated inspection through a portal which bad-orders cars so we can do repairs.” Notes Gerry Harder, the Chief Mechanical Officer for CN. He indicates this new technology can perform a full inspection in mere seconds; a task that formerly took CN workers a couple of hours.

Harder indicates that the goal of this portal is to detect accidents before they happen and allow CN mechanics to save time searching for problems and spend more time fixing them once they are identified.

Aside from this portal, located along Provincial Road 207, the only other one in Canada can be found in Winnipeg. CN hopes to set up similar stations in Toronto, Memphis, and beyond in an ongoing effort to improve the efficiency of the company.