CN signs voluntary mitigation agreement (VMA) with Village of Wayne, Ill.

CHICAGO, April 21 /CNW Telbec/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today it has reached a voluntary mitigation agreement (VMA) with the Village of Wayne, Ill., located approximately 33 miles northwest of downtown Chicago, regarding its acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E). With this agreement, CN has VMAs with 82 per cent of the 33 communities along the EJ&E in Illinois and Indiana.

CN, which completed its purchase of the EJ&E on Jan. 31, 2009, will provide Wayne funding for the creation of a quiet zone, noise and safety mitigation, communications and emergency response training.

Jim Vena, CN senior vice-president, Southern Region, said: CN is pleased to have reached this mitigation agreement with the Village of Wayne, marking the 27th VMA that we have signed with communities on the EJ&E line. The fact that CN has concluded VMAs with more than 80 per cent of municipalities affected by the EJ&E transaction reflects a clear corporate commitment to work cooperatively with our line-side neighbors toward mutually acceptable mitigation outcomes. This leaves just six communities along the EJ&E without VMAs with CN. Should any of these remaining municipalities wish to explore mitigation agreements with CN in future, we would be more than pleased to enter such discussions.

CN is working closely with communities on the EJ&E that do not have VMAs with the company to ensure implementation of safety and environmental conditions required by the Surface Transportation Board.

Integration of the CN and EJ&E networks is well underway. For more information on the acquisition, including a map of the areas served by CN, please visit the company's website at www.cn.ca.

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.