CN sells Greater Toronto Area rail lines to Metrolinx for GO Transit services

TORONTO, March 27, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today the sale of two rail line segments in the Greater Toronto Area to Metrolinx for C$310.5 million.

GO Transit's Richmond Hill commuter rail service operates over a portion of CN's Bala Subdivision. Metrolinx is acquiring a segment of the subdivision from approximately Rosedale Valley Road north through the Don Valley to CN's main east-west freight line north of Steeles Avenue near the Toronto-York Region border.

Metrolinx is also acquiring a segment of CN's Oakville Subdivision from a point near 30^th Street in the Etobicoke area of Toronto and terminating just west of the Fourth Line in Oakville, Ont.

Luc Jobin, CN executive vice-president and chief financial officer, said: "We are pleased to transfer ownership of these important commuter rail lines to Metrolinx to further its future service objectives, while protecting CN's operating rights to ensure continued service to its freight customers. CN has a strong partnership with Metrolinx and we will continue to support commuter rail as a sustainable mode of transport in the Greater Toronto Area."

GO Transit, a division of Metrolinx, is Ontario's inter-regional public transit system linking Toronto with the surrounding regions of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. GO carries more than 57 million passengers a year in an extensive network of train and bus services that spans over 10,000 square kilometres.

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.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information included in this news release constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws. CN cautions that, by their nature, these 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. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results or performance of the Company or the rail industry to be materially different from the outlook or any future results or performance implied by such statements. Important factors that could affect the above 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, various events which could disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe weather, droughts, floods and earthquakes, labor negotiations and disruptions, environmental claims, uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of claims and litigation, risks and liabilities arising from derailments, 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, available on CN's website, for a summary of major risks.

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 Canadian 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 maters, or any other forward-looking statement.

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