CNR Canadian National Railway Company

CHICAGO, IL, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE:CNI) and North America Stevedoring Company, LLC (NASCO) announced today construction of a new multi-modal steel transloading facility in Chicago, the North American hub for steel transportation. NASCO is a division of Quebec Stevedoring Company Ltd. (QSL).

The new facility will be located at the Port of Chicago on 190 acres of land adjacent to CN's Kirk Yard and Interstate 90, roughly 13 miles south of downtown Chicago. It will offer producers multi-modal transportation options by rail, truck, intermodal container, inland barge and ocean-going vessel for steel coil, sheet, plate, bar, structural, pipe and tube products, as well as dimensional loads and heavy equipment, as early as January 2011.

Jean-Jacques Ruest, executive vice-president and chief marketing officer for CN, said: "The Chicago Metals & Minerals Transload facility will give both CN and NASCO a strong foothold in the most important steel market in North America. Approximately half of steel production and consumption on the continent takes place within a 300-mile radius of Chicago. Innovative and efficient facilities are critical to the industry.

"CN will serve the facility directly, tying it into our North American rail network reaching the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts. Together with NASCO and QSL, we will offer the steel industry new transportation options to tap regional and North American markets and new port gateways for imported and exported steel. We also believe the facility will improve supply chain efficiencies for the steel industry and enhance CN's and NASCO's competitiveness in important steel markets."

Denis Dupuis, founder and president of QSL, said: "This transload operation will have state-of-the-art machinery for quickly and efficiently transferring steel loads between rail, truck, intermodal container, barge and vessel. This new multi-modal option in North America's heartland will help reduce highway congestion and provide added efficiency to all our customers.

"This partnership will benefit our 25-marine-terminal network beyond the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system, enabling the growth of our steel-handling business. It could be the first stepping stone to future expansions along CN rail corridors."

The new Chicago metals transload facility is part of a series of CN supply chain initiatives aimed at positioning the company to better serve its steel customers and grow its steel business. Last month, CN announced the establishment of strategic car staging locations near producer facilities, allowing it to respond quickly to steelmakers' spot sales requirements. One staging location is at Sorel-Tracy, Que., northeast of Montreal, the other at Paris, Ont., located west of Hamilton.

CN also recently announced the acquisition of 200 standard gondolas and 200 open coil gondolas to expand and improve the quality of its freight car fleet serving the steel industry. The new gondolas and coil cars follow CN's acquisition of almost 700 new iron ore cars this year and last for hauling pelletized iron ore in the Upper Midwest.

QSL, a privately held company, handles more than 11 million tonnes of general and dry bulk cargo annually over its network of port facilities strategically located from the Canadian eastern seaboard, the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. For more information on QSL, visit the Company's website at www.qsl.com.

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, St. Louis, 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.

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 relating to the expected completion of the new Chicago Metals & Minerals Transload facility. 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 maters, or any other forward-looking statement.

SOURCE CN