The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. It is one of Canada's two main freight rail companies, along with Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia across approximately of track. In the late 20th century, CN gained extensive capacity in the United States by taking over such railroads as the Illinois Central.
CN is a public company with 24,671 employees and, , a market cap of approximately US$75 billion. CN was government-owned, as a Canadian Crown corporation, from its founding in 1919 until being privatized in 1995. Today as a publicly held entity the company counts philanthropist Bill Gates as one of its largest shareholders.
History
The Canadian National Railways (CNR) was incorporated on June 6, 1919, comprising several railways that had become bankrupt and fallen into Government of Canada hands, along with some railways already owned by the government. Primarily a freight railway, CN also operated passenger services until 1978, when they were assumed by Via Rail. The only passenger services run by CN after 1978 were several mixed trains (freight and passenger) in Newfoundland, and several commuter trains both on CN's electrified routes and towards the South Shore in the Montreal area (the latter lasted without any public subsidy until 1986). The Newfoundland mixed trains lasted until 1988, while the Montreal commuter trains are now operated by Montreal's Exo.
On November 17, 1995, the Government of Canada privatized CN. Over the next decade, the company expanded significantly into the United States, purchasing Illinois Central Railroad in 1998 and Wisconsin Central Transportation in 2001, among others.
Creation of the company, 1918–1923 The excessive construction of railway lines in Canada led to significant financial difficulties striking many of them in the years leading up to 1920. In response to public concerns, the Government of Canada assumed majority ownership of the near-bankrupt Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) on September 6, 1918, and appointed a "Board of Management" to oversee the company. At the same time, CNoR was also directed to assume management of Canadian Government Railways (CGR), a system mainly comprising the Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC), National Transcontinental Railway (NTR), Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR), and the Hudson Bay Railway (HBR). On December 20, 1918, the Government of Canada created the Canadian National Railways (CNR) – a body with no corporate powers – through Order in Council as a means to simplify the funding and operation of the various railway companies. The absorption of the Intercolonial Railway would see CNR adopt that system's slogan, The People's Railway. Another Canadian railway, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR), encountered financial difficulty on March 7, 1919, when its parent company Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) defaulted on repayment of construction loans to the Government of Canada.
The Canadian National Railway Company then evolved through the following steps:
the "railways, works and undertakings of the Companies comprised in the Canadian Northern System" were vested in the newly incorporated Company in June 1919, with provision for the later inclusion of any of the Government Railways vesting of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway System in the Minister of Railways and Canals, acting as Government Receiver, in March 1919 acquisition of the Grand Trunk Railway System in November 1919, implemented in May 1920, supplemented by
GTR management and shareholders opposed to nationalization took legal action, but after several years of arbitration,as provided for under The Grand Trunk Railway Acquisition Act, 1919, subsequently extended by the GTR was finally absorbed into the CNR on January 30, 1923. Although several smaller independent railways would be added to the CNR in subsequent years as they went bankrupt or it became politically expedient to do so, the system was more or less finalized at that point. However, certain related lawsuits were not resolved until as late as 1936., on appeal from
Canadian National Railways was born out of both wartime and domestic urgency. Until the rise of the personal automobile and creation of taxpayer-funded all-weather highways, railways were the only viable long-distance land transportation available in Canada. As such, their operation consumed a great deal of public and political attention. Canada was one of many nations to engage in railway nationalization in order to safeguard critical transportation infrastructure during the First World War.
In the early 20th century, many governments were taking a more interventionist role in the economy, foreshadowing the influence of economists like John Maynard Keynes. This political trend, combined with broader geo-political events, made nationalization an appealing choice for Canada. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and allied involvement in the Russian Revolution seemed to validate the continuing process. The need for a viable rail system was paramount in a time of civil unrest and foreign military action.
Acquisitions Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad
The B&LE was acquired with the purchase of Great Lakes Transportation and the DM&IR.
British Columbia Railway
In 2003, BCOL sold to Canadian National and leased the railroad to CN for 60 years.
Central Vermont Railway
Central Vermont was nationalized in 1918 and consolidated into the Grand Trunk Western in 1971 with the creation of the Grand Trunk Corporation.
Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railroad
The DM&IR was purchased by Great Lakes Transportation and in 2011 the DM&IR was merged into CN's Wisconsin Central Subsidiary. The DM&IR was acquired at the same time as the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad.
Duluth Winnipeg & Pacific Railroad
The DWP was nationalized with CN in 1918 and became a part of CN's Grand Trunk Corporation in 1971. In 2011 the DWP was merged into the larger Wisconsin Central Subsidiary of CN.
Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway
In 2009, CN acquired the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway to assist with traffic congestion in Chicago and the surrounding area. In 2013 EJ&E was merged into the greater Wisconsin Central Subsidiary of CN.
Grand Trunk Western Railroad
The GTW was merged with Central Vermont in 1971 with the creation of the Grand Trunk Corporation. In 1991 the GTW was merged with CN under the "North America" consolidation program. Many of GTWs locomotives and rolling stock would be repainted and the motive power would get the new CN scheme.
Illinois Central Railroad
In 1998, IC was purchased by CN, which also acquired the Chicago Central in the deal. A year later, the two railroads were formally amalgamated into the CN system.
Iowa Northern Railway
In 2023, CN acquired the Iowa Northern Railway, but the transaction is awaiting approval by the Surface Transportation Board (STB). On January 14, 2025, the STB approved the CN acquisition of the Iowa Northern Railway, a Class III shortline that specializes in the transport of grain, ethanol, and other bio-fuels commodities in the state of Iowa.
Mackenzie Northern Railway
In 2006, CN acquired Mackenzie Northern Railway, previously purchased by RailAmerica. This purchase allowed CN to increase their network footprint and hold the northernmost trackage of the contiguous North American railway network. Since being purchased by CN in 2006, it has been officially known as the Meander River Subdivision.
Newfoundland Railway On March 31, 1949, CNR acquired the assets of the Newfoundland Railway, which in 1979 were reorganized into Terra Transport. CN officially abandoned its rail network in Newfoundland on October 1, 1988.
Savage Alberta Railway
On December 1, 2006, CN announced that it had purchased Savage Alberta Railway for $25 million and that it had begun operating the railway the same day.
TransX Group of Companies
In 2018, CN acquired the Winnipeg-based TransX Group of Companies. TransX continues to operate independently.
Wisconsin Central Railroad
In January 2001, CN acquired the WC for $800 million.
CN's U.S. subsidiaries before privatization In the late 1980s, CN's railway network consisted of the company's Canadian trackage, along with the following U.S. subsidiary lines: Grand Trunk Western Railroad (GTW) operating in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois; Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway (DWP) operating in Minnesota; Central Vermont Railway (CV) operating down the Connecticut River valley from Quebec to Long Island Sound; and the Berlin subdivision to Portland, Maine, known informally as the Grand Trunk Eastern, sold to a short-line operator in 1989.
Privatization In 1992, a new management team led by ex-federal government bureaucrats Paul Tellier and Michael Sabia started preparing CN for privatization by emphasizing increased productivity. This was achieved largely by cutting the company's management structure, laying off many employees, and continuing to abandon or sell branch lines. In 1993 and 1994, the company replaced the names CN, Grand Trunk Western, and Duluth, Winnipeg, and Pacific with CN North America. CPR and CN officials began to discuss a merger. When the idea was rejected by the Canadian government, CPR offered to purchase outright all of CN's lines from Ontario to Nova Scotia, while an unidentified U.S. railroad (rumoured to have been Burlington Northern Railroad) would purchase CN's lines in western Canada. This too was rejected. In 1995, the entire company, including its U.S. subsidiaries, reverted to using CN.
The CN Commercialization Act was enacted on July 13, 1995, and by November 28, 1995, the Government of Canada had completed an initial public offering (IPO) and transferred all of its shares to private investors. Under the legislation, no individual or corporate shareholder may own more than 15 percent of CN, and the company's headquarters must remain in Montreal, thus maintaining CN as a Canadian corporation.
Contraction and expansion since privatization Following the successful IPO, CN has recorded impressive gains in its stock price, largely through an aggressive network rationalization and purchase of newer more fuel-efficient locomotives. Numerous branch lines were shed in the late 1990s across Canada, resulting in dozens of independent short line railway companies being established to operate former CN track that had been considered marginal. This network rationalization resulted in a core east–west freight railway stretching from Halifax to Chicago and Toronto to Vancouver and Prince Rupert. The railway also operated trains from Winnipeg to Chicago using trackage rights for part of the route south of Duluth.
In addition to the rationalization in Canada, the company also expanded in a strategic north–south direction in the central United States. In 1998, in an era of mergers in the U.S. rail industry, CN bought the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), which connected the already existing lines from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a line running from Chicago, Illinois, to New Orleans, Louisiana. This single purchase of IC transformed CN's entire corporate focus from being an east–west uniting presence within Canada (sometimes to the detriment of logical business models) into a north–south NAFTA railway (in reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement). CN was then feeding Canadian raw material exports into the U.S. heartland and beyond to Mexico through a strategic alliance with Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS).