Acquisition
will generate greater rail efficiencies,
overall
environmental benefits for Chicago region
CHICAGO,
Feb. 1, 2009 — CN (TSX: CNR)(NYSE: CNI) last night
completed its acquisition of the principal lines of the Elgin, Joliet
& Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E). The closing follows the Jan. 23, 2009,
effective date of the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Dec. 24, 2008,
decision approving the transaction.
CN
will now begin a measured, step-by-step integration of the acquired EJ&E
lines to ensure a safe, efficient combination of the two rail operations.
EJ&E operates over 198 main line miles of track encircling the City of
Chicago from Waukegan, Ill., on the north, to Joliet, Ill., on the west, to
Gary, Ind., on the southeast, and then to South Chicago. The Transtar subsidiary
of United States Steel will retain railroad assets, equipment, and employees
that support the Gary Works site in Northwest Indiana and the steelmaking
operations of U. S. Steel. These remaining operations will become the Gary
Railway.
E.
Hunter Harrison, president and chief executive officer of CN, said: “With this
closing, we can move forward to fulfill the promise of the EJ&E acquisition,
which will help drive new efficiencies and operating improvements on CN’s
network. Streamlined rail operations, along with reduced congestion resulting
from the acquisition, are critically important to the Chicago region’s economy
and its continued role as one of America’s most important transportation
hubs.”
Harrison
said CN remains fully committed to mitigating the environmental impacts of the
acquisition on communities along the EJ&E, as demonstrated by CN’s
comprehensive voluntary mitigation plan, which was adopted by the STB in its
mitigation requirements, as well as the company’s voluntary mitigation
agreements reached with 10 Illinois and Indiana communities.
In
connection with its undertakings to the STB, CN will be actively engaged in
ensuring compliance with the various monitoring and reporting requirements
included in the STB’s decision approving the transaction, including the
appointment of a CN community liaison officer for municipalities along the
EJ&E that will be affected by the acquisition. CN is committed to
keeping inner-arc communities and those along the EJ&E regularly updated on
key developments and milestones during the integration of the EJ&E into the
CN network and rerouting of CN trains.
Gordon
Trafton, senior vice-president, Southern Region, welcomed EJ&E employees to
the CN family.
“We
look forward to EJ&E employees joining CN’s team of railroaders,” Trafton
said. “The acquisition will provide CN with a more efficient and consistent
connection between the Eastern, Western, and Southern regions of CN’s network.
We will apply our proven business model in implementing this acquisition using
the careful, step-by-step approach we have employed in our previous transactions
to flawlessly integrate these operations.”
More
information on the transaction, including a map of the areas served by the
EJ&E and CN, is available by clicking on the EJ&E Acquisition icon on
CN’s website www.cn.ca
Forward-Looking
Statements
This
news release contains forward-looking statements. CN cautions that, by their
nature, forward-looking statements involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions.
Implicit in these statements, particularly in respect of long-term growth
opportunities, is the Company’s assumption that such growth opportunities are
less affected by the current situation in the North American and global
economies. The Company cautions that its assumptions may not materialize and
that current economic conditions render such assumptions, although reasonable at
the time they were made, subject to greater uncertainty. The current situation
in financial markets is adding a substantial amount of risk to the North
American economy, which is already in a recession, and to the global economy,
which is significantly slowing down. The Company cautions that its results could
differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are
not limited to, industry competition, legislative and/or regulatory
developments, compliance with environmental laws and regulations,
various events which could disrupt operations, including natural events such as
severe weather, droughts, floods and earthquakes, the effects of adverse general
economic and business conditions, inflation, currency fluctuations, changes in
fuel prices, labor disruptions, environmental claims, investigations or
proceedings, other types of claims and litigation, and other risks detailed from
time to time in reports filed by CN with securities regulators in Canada and the
United States. Reference should be made to “Management’s Discussion and
Analysis” in CN’s annual and interim reports
and Annual Information Form and Form 40-F filed with Canadian and U.S.
securities regulators, available on CN’s website, for a summary of major
risks.
CN
– Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway subsidiaries –
spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf
of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal,
Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key metropolitan areas of
Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay,
Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all
points in North America. For more information on CN, visit the company’s website
at www.cn.ca.
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Contacts:
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Media
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Investment
Community
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Karen
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Robert
Noorigian
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Vice-President
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Vice-President
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North
American Government Affairs
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Investor
Relations
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(202)
347-7196
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(514)
399-0052
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