CHICAGO, April 21 /PRNewswire/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI)
announced today it has reached a voluntary mitigation agreement
(VMA) with the Village of Wayne,
Ill., located approximately 33 miles northwest of downtown
Chicago, regarding its acquisition
of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E).
With this agreement, CN has VMAs with 82 per cent of the 33
communities along the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.
CN, which completed its purchase of the EJ&E on Jan. 31, 2009, will provide Wayne funding for the creation of a quiet
zone, noise and safety mitigation, communications and emergency
response training.
Jim Vena, CN senior vice-president, Southern Region, said: "CN
is pleased to have reached this mitigation agreement with the
Village of Wayne, marking the 27th
VMA that we have signed with communities on the EJ&E line. The
fact that CN has concluded VMAs with more than 80 per cent of
municipalities affected by the EJ&E transaction reflects a
clear corporate commitment to work cooperatively with our line-side
neighbors toward mutually acceptable mitigation outcomes. This
leaves just six communities along the EJ&E without VMAs with
CN. Should any of these remaining municipalities wish to explore
mitigation agreements with CN in future, we would be more than
pleased to enter such discussions."
CN is working closely with communities on the EJ&E that do
not have VMAs with the company to ensure implementation of safety
and environmental conditions required by the Surface Transportation
Board.
Integration of the CN and EJ&E networks is well underway.
For more information on the acquisition, including a map of the
areas served by CN, please visit the company's website at
www.cn.ca.
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