Welcome to VitalRail and the Continental Action Plans for Sustainable Industry
Where stakeholders in Canada, the United States, and Mexico redesign our industrial systems for sustainable life.
OnTrackNorthAmerica has launched the Continental Action Plans for Sustainable Industry (CAPSI), a transformative initiative that unites professional stakeholders in redesigning industries to achieve both economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.
At the heart of CAPSI are our Industry Action Plans (IAPs), with VitalRail serving as our pioneering initiative. VitalRail focuses on optimizing railroad infrastructure as the backbone of an integrated, balanced multimodal transportation network.
Our Collaborative Approach
CAPSI's success relies on genuine collaboration across sectors. We employ a proven inquiry-based methodology that facilitates:
- Comprehensive information gathering
- Innovative brainstorming
- Actionable decision-making among diverse stakeholder groups
Through this collaborative process, we address the fragmentation in our industrial systems—from natural resources and agriculture to production, distribution, consumption, and recycling.
Leadership Experience
OnTrackNorthAmerica brings over 30 years of infrastructure advisory expertise spanning 45 states and Canadian provinces. This extensive experience provides the foundation for our work in creating more sustainable, efficient industrial frameworks across North America.
What do we mean by industrial systems?
Industrial systems encompass the comprehensive network of commercial activities, policy frameworks, and planning processes that enable the delivery of materials and products essential for modern civilization. These systems extend far beyond manufacturing facilities to include:
- Resource extraction and processing
- Supply chain management and logistics
- Distribution networks and transportation infrastructure
- Consumer access and utilization
- End-of-life considerations including recycling, repurposing, and disposal
The Interconnected Nature of Industry
What distinguishes truly effective industrial systems is their connectivity. The interactions and transitions between facilities—the movement of materials, information, and energy across properties—often prove as critical as the operations within individual locations themselves.
These interconnections determine overall system efficiency, resilience, and environmental impact. By recognizing industrial systems as holistic networks rather than isolated facilities, we gain the perspective needed to optimize performance across economic, social, and ecological dimensions.
What do we mean by redesign?
Redesigning industrial systems through our Collaborative Industrial Optimization framework transforms fragmented supply chains into cohesive, sustainable networks through a stakeholder-driven process that respects existing investments while boldly reimagining infrastructure placement and connectivity. This approach begins with establishing shared goals and performance metrics, then progresses to strategic reconfiguration—as demonstrated in our mineral supply chain work, where we optimize the positioning of extraction, manufacturing, and recycling facilities to maximize efficiency and minimize environmental impact. Beyond physical infrastructure, our redesign process addresses the crucial human dimension by creating compelling incentives that align individual and organizational success with system-wide sustainability, ensuring that technical solutions are supported by the social and behavioral changes needed for lasting transformation..
Who are the stakeholders?
You are all stakeholders, along with everyone involved in or directly affected by our industrial systems. Developing action plans for sustainable industries requires complete stakeholder representation. OnTrackNorthAmerica has already cataloged over 32,000 stakeholders across North America’s industrial, political, and geographic landscape. And for each Action Plan process we initiate, we invite additional stakeholders throughout North America to work towards complete representation from all sectors: academia, advocacy, business, community, funders, government, labor, and media.
How do we work together as stakeholders?
We convene stakeholders in IntelliConference Series® forums that apply IntelliSynthesis®, our breakthrough question-and-response dialogue method, for efficient input from large groups of diverse stakeholders. In IntelliSynthesis we invite participants from all sectors in a given system or region to ensure representation of all perspectives. Each participant agrees to read and timely respond to rounds of questions. The facilitation team creates and shares a digest of each round of responses, saving participants time. Outlier perspectives are considered for the value they may offer the group. Planning transitions into action planning and decision-making. The IntelliConference Series® and IntelliSynthesis® processes are explained in greater detail elsewhere on this website.
What do we mean by sustainability?
Sustainability of life is the long-lasting, harmonious co-existence of our economies, humans and nature.
What is a Continental Action Plan?
“Continental” includes Canada, the United States, and Mexico, which already engage in extensive cross-border commerce and can greatly benefit from improved coordination. Action Plans specific to each industrial system or geography integrate with all other plans, emerging from a process that produces results immediately, distinct from static reports and studies that typically sit on a shelf.
