Canadian National Railway Company operates one of North America’s largest rail freight networks. The network includes about 17,800 miles (29,500 kilometers) of track. Canadian National’s trains also operate on thousands of miles or kilometers of government-owned track. The company’s rail system stretches across Canada and the midwestern and south-central United States. It crosses North America east-west from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast and north-south from the coast of Hudson Bay to that of the Gulf of Mexico. A marketing alliance enables the company to also serve markets in Mexico. A majority of Canadian National’s revenue is generated by freight hauling. The company has headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Canadian National is known informally as CN.
The Canadian National Railway Company was incorporated in 1919 by an act of the Canadian Parliament. Its railroad network consisted of a collection of government-owned railroads. The Canadian government had purchased many of these railroads after they fell into debt due to the costs of aiding the war effort during World War I (1914-1918). By the early 1920’s, CN was also operating a radio network, a telegraph service, a hotel chain, and a steamship line. The radio network became the basis for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (see Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ).
CN became a public corporation in 1995 through a sale of common stock. In 1999, it acquired the Illinois Central Railroad, a major U.S. railroad, through a purchase of all of that railroad’s common stock. Prior to the purchase, CN’s network extended into the United States only as far as Chicago. The acquisition provided CN with U.S. routes reaching as far south as New Orleans, Louisiana, and as far west as Sioux City, Iowa. In 2004, CN purchased the rail and marine holdings of the Great Lakes Transportation LLC,. In 2009, it purchased additional rail lines in Illinois and Indiana, further expanding its operations in the U.S. Midwest.
See also Railroad (In Canada) .
