ONxpress Transportation Partners Inc.

Jürgen Bodtländer is Chief Information Officer of ONxpress Transportation Partners (ONxpress), and Head of Information Technology for ONxpress Operations Inc. (OOI aka Operations & Maintenance). Bodtländer is a seasoned business Information Technology (IT) executive with more than 20 years of senior project management, IT strategy and integration experience. From 2001 to 2022, heheld several senior leadership positions within DB Systel GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, shaping successful digitalization across the group. He has a proven track record for defining and creating entire IT portfolios, innovation and business planning for the strategic enhancement of business activities. Bodtländer is a graduate of Universität der Bundeswehr München.

As the Chief Information Officer (CIO) ONxpress Transportation, could you provide an overview of your role and responsibilities within the company?

The GO Expansion-On-Corridor Works (OnCorr) project will transform the GO rail network into a rapid transit network. This network will provide train service to Canada’s largest region, the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).The OnCorr project is the first of its kind in Canada and is unprecedented in its scale and complexity. I lead the team of IT professionals who are bringing this project to life.

ONxpress Transportation Partners (ONxpress) was chosen by Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario to deliver the OnCorrproject as part of Metrolinx’s GO Expansion program. ONxpress will design, build, operate, maintain and provide vehicles for a faster, more frequent transit network for the GTHA.

 ​“By combining strong business sense with the capability to adopt new technologies, and influence leadership and peers, young IT professionals can add meaningful value for the overall benefit of the business” 

As ONxpress’ Chief Information Officer, I have overall responsibility for all IT matters relating to the Project Agreement. This includes the modernization of IT infrastructure and platforms, and the modernization of the core business applications that enable changes and improvements across the organization, including:

● Establish smart digitalization, agile collaboration and innovative IT strategy to enable a step change in rail operations in the GTHA over the next decade

● The design, development, implementation and coordinationof architectural frameworks, processes, delivery models, policies and procedures for efficient and effective implementation and operation of developed, transitioned and integrated IT systems

● Establishing and leading a technology working group, which is the central planning, collaboration and decision-making body for all IT issues

● Ensuring the highest levels of data quality, appropriate and adequate security measures and guarantee availability and incident resolution for all information systems according to the Project Agreement  

By combining scalable, robust and secure IT platform capabilities with best-in-class integrated applications, consistent data governance, and agile collaboration, OnCorr’s IT team will support the GO rail network transformation.

As a CIO, what are some of the key challenges you face in leveraging technology effectively?

The main challenge my team and I are solving is modernizing the IT infrastructure and the entire IT business application landscape simultaneously. We are doing this in advance of assuming operations and maintenance for the GO rail network, which carries over 70 million passengers annually.

An exciting part about implementing this digital transformation is the opportunity to reimagine the way we run our business using new digital processes and tools.

The business is in many ways organized in silos, and IT needs to facilitate end-to-end value streams across department boundaries.

Our IT strategy is based on a clear commercial off-the-shelf approach with a goal of replacing disparate applications and inspiring the business to accept and adopt best practice solutions.

Using rail-specific, best-in-class IT applications brings us faster implementation times, lower risk, and even more opportunity for innovation.

It goes without saying, implementing broad digitalization across the organization means most roles will require some form of digital skills training. Our plan is to partner across departments to ensure teams have basic tech know-how and the skills required for these new systems.

With the rapid pace of technological advancements, how do you stay informed of emerging technologies and assess their potential impact?

Working at ONxpress, we have the unique advantage of four multi-national parent companies in our corner. That means, there are many IT eyes in the advancement space looking for the latest and greatest technology and testing its viability and appropriateness for our business and theirs. We share findings and opinions with each other often, which is a powerful advantage we have.

Additionally, like many other transit businesses, we also actively leverage industry-leading advisors and analysts, as well as other independent sources, who review and recommend technology advancements. We choose the ones that are most appropriate for our business, and conduct further research as a group.

What advice would you give to young professionals who are interested in pursuing a career in technology, and what qualities do you think are essential for success in this field?

There are two main areas young professionals should enhance their skillset in if they are trying to break into the technology space: (1) Staying current on technological breakthroughs and advancements, and (2) having a solid understanding of business.

The IT labor-market is driven by technological breakthroughs, such asgenerative artificial intelligence. Staying current on these new technologies and finding ways to implement them in support of business goals is critical. Early adoption of these new technologies will remain a key driver of business transformation, and young professionals would do well to stay ahead of this curve. Continuous learning is the best way to do this.

Having strong business acumen is critical for young professionals. Understanding how the business works can only contribute to your personal success and that of the organization. It is especially important to have an interdepartmental understanding; how other departments function, like finance and human resources, and how they work to support strategic goals. This will give young professionals the ability to advise leaders and person IT solutions and approaches that support their initiatives. When you couple strong business acumen with the technical knowledge, you are automatically more competitive in any job market.

By combining strong business sensewith the capability to adopt new technologies, and influence leadership and peers, young IT professionals can add meaningful value for the overall benefit of the business.