TORONTO, April 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) said today it plans to invest approximately $320 million in Ontario in 2019 to expand and strengthen the company’s rail network across the province.

“Following a record capital program in 2018, CN has been able to take on more traffic from different commodity sectors based on contracts with our customers,” said Doug MacDonald, Vice-President of CN’s Eastern Region. “This year, we are continuing to invest to boost capacity and network resiliency and to meet growing traffic on our corridors across Ontario.”

The Ontario investments are part of CN’s 2019 record $3.9-billion capital investment focused on enabling growth from all commodity segments, including consumer goods, grain, agricultural, forest, and energy products from all of our customers, safely and efficiently. Over two years, CN will have made a $7.4-billion capital investment.

“We welcome CN’s investment in important railway infrastructure across Ontario,” said Marco Mendicino, Member of Parliament for Eglinton–Lawrence. “These annual investments improve safety and operating efficiency and boost economic output. Focusing on strategic assets will support Canada’s trade network and bring Canadian goods to market more efficiently.”

CN is currently deploying important safety enhancing technologies across its network, such as the Autonomous Track Inspection Program, Distributed Air Cars, and Automated Inspection Portals. These innovations, combined with CN’s investments in locomotives, capacity, infrastructure, and train crews, will support the safe and efficient movement of our customers’ goods to their end markets.

“With its robust carrying capacity, solid safety record, and low environmental impact, rail infrastructure plays a critical role in Ontario's economy. CN is a respected member of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and, for 100 years, has been a leading North American transportation and logistics company. Today's investment will not only renew and strengthen our province’s rail network, it will also help move goods to market faster to meet current and future demands,” said Rocco Rossi, President and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

Planned expansion projects include:

• Investments in a satellite intermodal facility near CN’s Brampton intermodal terminal to provide additional capacity;
• Intermodal equipment and infrastructure at CN’s Brampton Intermodal Terminal to serve growing businesses; and,
• Facility improvements at CN’s Toronto auto compound.

Maintenance program highlights include:

• Replacement of more than 75 miles of rail;
• Installation of more than 325,000 new railroad ties;
• Rebuilds of 94 road crossing surfaces; and,
• Maintenance work on bridges, culverts, signal systems, and other track infrastructure.

CN’s Ontario rail network stretches across the province, and the GTHA is home to MacMillan Yard, CN’s largest rail car classification facility, and Brampton Intermodal Terminal, CN’s largest intermodal facility. The Ontario network reaches other terminals across Canada’s industrial heartland, from Thunder Bay to Sarnia.

Ontario in numbers:

• Capital investments: more than $1.3 billion in the last five years
• Employees: approximately 4,000
• Railway route miles operated: 2,546
• Community partnerships: $4.8 million in 2018
• Local spending: $2.6 billion in 2018
• Total taxes paid by CN: more than $160 million in 2018

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. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Important risk factors that could affect the 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; increases in maintenance and operating costs; security threats; reliance on technology and related cybersecurity risk; trade restrictions or other changes to international trade arrangements; transportation of hazardous materials; various events which could disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe weather, droughts, fires, floods and earthquakes; climate change; labor negotiations and disruptions; environmental claims; uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of claims and litigation; risks and liabilities arising from derailments; timing and completion of capital programs; 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 and available on CN’s website, for a description of major risk factors.

Forward-looking statements reflect information as of the date on which they are made. 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 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 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 www.cn.ca.