Jeff Simpson

Background

About Jeff Simpson

As HDR’s Rail Operations & Planning Practice Lead in Canada, Jeff has spent more than two decades working across the rail industry as both a railroader and consultant. Jeff is a rail operations, planning, and capacity expert and has worked in leadership roles for Class I and shortline railways, as well as industrial clients, with extensive experience in train operations and dispatching, service design and operations planning, rules and regulatory compliance, business and economic development, network capacity and infrastructure development, market strategy, and rail traffic forecasting. Jeff has vast knowledge and understanding of the North American rail network, including working in Operations, Service Design and Network Development roles at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). This included hands on experience implementing Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) principals to the operating plan and infrastructure projects across the CP North American rail network. Jeff spent almost 15 years working at CP over three different periods between 2001 and 2017. Jeff was also a key member of the founding management team at Great Sandhills Railway (GSR) and was instrumental in the purchase and startup of operations on several CP prairie branchlines in Southwestern Saskatchewan and Southeastern Alberta between 2008 and 2010. Since joining HDR in 2017, Jeff has been responsible for leading rail operations and strategic planning exercises for clients across Canada, the United States, and internationally. His focus is conceptual rail planning (including industrial and port development), feasibility studies, grant writing and funding assistance, railway operations and simulation analysis, and strategic rail infrastructure advisory. Jeff’s broad knowledge of the industry and his experience in assembling and directing cross-functional teams enables him to provide creative and practical insights, and economical and complete solutions, to freight logistics and passenger transportation initiatives across the globe.