Claude Mongeau appointed a CN director; Board approves fourth-quarter 2009
dividend

MONTREAL , Oct. 20 /CNW Telbec/ - CN (TSX:CNR)(NYSE:CNI) announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Claude Mongeau as a director of the Company, effectively immediately.

Mongeau, executive vice-president of CN, will succeed E. Hunter Harrison as CN president and chief executive officer on Jan. 1, 2010 .

Mongeau's appointment increases the size of CN's board to 12, of whom 10 are outside directors. Mongeau is also a director of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.

Separately, CN announced that its Board has approved a fourth-quarter 2009 dividend on the Company's common shares outstanding. A quarterly dividend of 25.25 cents (C$0.2525) per common share will be paid on Dec. 31, 2009 , to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 10, 2009 .

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.

For further information: Media: Mark Hallman, Director, Communications & Public Affairs, [phone]; Investment Community: Robert Noorigian, Vice-President, Investor Relations, [phone]