Program includes Symington Yard capacity improvement project

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, June 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX:CNR) (NYSE:CNI) said today it plans to invest approximately $130 million in Manitoba in 2018 to strengthen the Company’s rail network across the province, including expansion of its primary rail yard in Winnipeg.

“We are investing for the long haul,” said Doug Ryhorchuk, vice-president of CN’s Western Region. “Our project at Symington Yard in Winnipeg, combined with track investments across the Prairies, and new equipment and more people, will help us deliver superior service to our grain and other customers throughout Manitoba and North America. Additionally, our substantial investments to renew our existing railway infrastructure underscores our commitment to operating safely.”

The Manitoba investments are part of CN’s record $3.4 billion capital program for 2018. In Winnipeg, CN will add a dozen new and extended tracks within its Symington Yard, the centrepiece of CN’s transcontinental network, improving the efficient handling of rail cars from across Canada and the United States. Other capital program investments will focus on the replacement, upgrade and maintenance of key track infrastructure to improve overall safety and efficiency.

Maintenance program highlights include:

• Replacement of approximately 30 miles of rail
• Installation of more than 80,000 new railroad ties
• Rebuilds of approximately 20 road crossing surfaces
• Maintenance work on bridges, culverts, signal systems and other track infrastructure

Manitoba is a major hub of CN’s transcontinental rail network and home of key facilities such as the Symington classification yard, the Transcona Shops, and CN’s Claude Mongeau National Training Centre.

"Railways are an important part of the Manitoba economy, and play an instrumental role in the future economic growth and prosperity of our province,” said Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler.  “Our government welcomes these investments from CN, as they show a strong commitment to our province and the growing rail demand across Manitoba and Canada."

CN investing for the long haul

Across its network, CN continues to invest in trade-enabling infrastructure and equipment. Earlier this year, CN announced plans to acquire 350 new box cars to serve forest products and metals customers and to purchase 350 new lumber cars to meet growing demand to move wood products. In May, CN announced that it plans to acquire 1,000 Canadian built, new generation, high-cube grain hopper cars over the next two years to rejuvenate the aging equipment needed to serve increasing annual crop yields. This month, CN is taking delivery of the first of 60 new GE locomotives due in service in 2018. The balance of a multi-year, 200-unit order will be brought online in 2019 and 2020.

After adding hundreds of conductors to the field so far this year, CN continues to hire with a particular focus on crews in Winnipeg and across Western Canada. Approximately 1,250 new qualified conductors will be in the field network wide before next winter, compared to heading into the previous winter. All new conductors and other operating employees hired in Canada will be trained at CN’s national training centre in Winnipeg.   

Manitoba in numbers:

• Capital investments: approximately $675 million in the last five years
• Employees: approximately 2,100
• Railroad route miles operated: 859
• Community partnerships: $354,000 in 2017
• Local spending: $668 million in 2017
• Cash taxes paid: $32 million in 2017

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this news release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. 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. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “assumes,” “outlook,” “plans,” “targets,” or other similar words.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results or performance of the Company to be materially different from the outlook or any future results or performance implied by such statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Important risk factors that could affect the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic and business conditions; industry competition; inflation, currency and interest rate fluctuations; changes in fuel prices; legislative and/or regulatory developments; compliance with environmental laws and regulations; actions by regulators; increases in maintenance and operating costs; security threats; reliance on technology and related cybersecurity risk; trade restrictions or other changes to international trade arrangements; transportation of hazardous materials; various events which could disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe weather, droughts, fires, floods and earthquakes; climate change; labor negotiations and disruptions; environmental claims; uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of claims and litigation; risks and liabilities arising from derailments; timing and completion of capital programs; 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, Annual Information Form and Form 40-F, filed with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators and available on CN’s website, for a description of major risk factors.

Forward-looking statements reflect information as of the date on which they are made. CN assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable securities laws. In the event CN does update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that CN will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statement.

CN is a true backbone of the economy whose team of approximately 25,000 railroaders transports more than C$250 billion worth of goods annually for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN – Canadian National Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries – serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information about CN, visit the Company’s website at www.cn.ca.