CHICAGO, May 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - CN (TSX:
CNR)(NYSE: CNI) announced today it has reached a voluntary
mitigation agreement (VMA) with the Village of Barrington Hills, Ill., located
approximately 40 miles northwest of Chicago, addressing the municipality's
environmental and safety concerns with CN's acquisition of the
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E).
With this agreement, CN has VMAs with 22 of the 33 communities
situated on the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.
CN, which completed its purchase of the EJ&E on Jan. 31, 2009, will provide funding for various
measures in Barrington Hills,
including maintenance of an existing quiet zone, operations
mitigation, emergency response training, and safety
initiatives.
Jim Vena, CN senior vice-president, Southern Region, said: "We
are very pleased to have reached this mitigation agreement with
Barrington Hills for our EJ&E
acquisition. CN is going the extra mile to reach out to communities
along the "J", and we're encouraged that so many of them have
worked with us productively to develop mutually satisfactory
solutions to environmental and safety issues that may be posed by
the transaction. We intend to continue to communicate closely with
all communities on the EJ&E in the months and years ahead as CN
fully integrates the line into its network."
CN is also working closely with communities along the EJ&E
that do not yet have agreements with CN to ensure implementation of
safety and environmental conditions in accordance with the
requirements of the Surface Transportation Board.
Integration of the CN and EJ&E networks is well underway,
and, as contemplated in the original plan, the Company continues to
expect it will be completed within three years of its acquisition
of control.
More information on the acquisition, including a map of the
areas served by the EJ&E and CN, is available on CN's website,
www.cn.ca.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information included in this news release constitutes
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under
Canadian securities laws, including statements as to the expected
completion of the integration of the CN and EJ&E networks. CN
cautions that, by their nature, these 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. Such
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 of performance of the
Company or the rail industry to be materially different from the
outlook or any future results or performance implied by such
statements. Important factors that could affect the above
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, various events which could disrupt operations,
including natural events such as severe weather, droughts, floods
and earthquakes, labor negotiations and disruptions, environmental
claims, uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types
of claims and litigation, risks and liabilities arising from
derailments, 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, available on CN's website, for a summary of
major risks.
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 Canadian
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 - 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.
SOURCE CN