CN elects Donald J. Carty to its Board of Directors

MONTREAL, Dec. 23 /CNW Telbec/ - CN (TSX: CNR)(NYSE: CNI) announced today that Donald J. Carty has been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of CN. Carty will join the Board on Jan. 1, 2011.

Carty is the retired vice-chairman and chief financial officer of Dell, Inc., after having previously served in a number of positions in the airline industry, including chairman and chief executive officer of AMR Corporation and American Airlines. He is currently Chairman of Virgin America Airlines, Inc. and Porter Airlines, Inc. and serves as a director of a number of corporations, including Barrick Gold Corporation, Talisman Energy Inc and Dell, Inc.

David G.A. McLean, chairman of CN's Board of Directors, said: "Don's extensive experience in the transportation industry in both Canada and the United States and in meeting customers' needs and expectations, combined with his financial acumen and strategic planning experience, make him an exceptional addition to CN's Board. We look forward to his contributions to the Board's deliberations as CN continues to build on its widely-acknowledged operational excellence to enhance the efficiency of the overall supply chain and the quality of service CN provides to customers."

Carty is a graduate of Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., and of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He also is a recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Queen's University. In January 2003, Carty was named an officer of The Order of Canada.

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, St. Louis, 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: Louis-Antoine Paquin, Manager, Corporate Communications, [phone]; Investment Community: Robert Noorigian, Vice-President, Investor Relations, [phone]