CN to Purchase 1,500 New Hopper Railcars in North America to Encourage Economic Recovery and Expand Grain Export

MONTREAL, July 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) today announced that it plans to acquire 1,500 new generation, high-capacity, grain hopper cars with delivery starting in January of 2021. These new railcars will encourage the economic recovery through job creation in the North American manufacturing sector and help CN continue to meet the growing needs of grain farmers and grain customers.

“This investment, combined with our 2020 $2.9B capital investment program, will help us move more grain. We are confident in the future of the grain business and its key role in CN’s long-term growth. By investing in the construction of these new cars, we want to help quickly stimulate the North American economy by supporting manufacturing and agriculture related jobs.”

      -          JJ Ruest, President and Chief Executive Officer, CN

“CN’s Canadian grain movements continue to break records, month after month, and these new higher-capacity hopper cars will help perpetuate our growth in this key sector of the North American economy. By purchasing new hopper cars for the second time in two years, we are continuing to deliver on our commitment to grain farmers, grain customers and the overall supply chain to expand our collective capacity through fleet renewal. Through this investment, we will be able to support and expand our movements of grain to international markets as demand continues to increase.”

      -      James Cairns, Senior Vice-President, Rail Centric Supply Chain, CN

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 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. 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.

CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting 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 .