CN Appoints David P. Edison to Oversee BC Rail Integration.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2003

David P. Edison, a CN (NYSE:CNI)(TSX:CNR) executive with 38 years of railroading experience, will lead the transition team responsible for the integration of BC Rail into CN. The British Columbia government this month passed legislation authorizing the CN/BC Rail partnership.

Edison has extensive experience in rail operations, car and locomotive maintenance and senior management. During the last four years, he was vice-president, Pacific Division, in charge of all CN operations, engineering and regional sales and other activities in Alberta and British Columbia. He will continue to be based in Vancouver, but will spend considerable time in key rail operating communities in the B.C. North and Interior.

E. Hunter Harrison, CN's president and chief executive officer, said: "Dave brings seasoned judgment and sound leadership to his new assignment, as well as extensive knowledge and understanding of BC Rail, the shippers it serves, its employees and the communities they live in."

In his new position, Edison will be responsible for the integration of BC Rail employees and operations into CN -- a gradual process that is expected to take up to three years. Edison will also oversee construction of CN's state-of-the-art wheel shop in Prince George, realignment of rail yards in North Vancouver, Squamish and Prince George, reconnection of CN's Hythe-Dawson Creek line, workforce planning, and other aspects of the integration. He will report to Peter Marshall, senior vice-president, Western Canada Region. Marshall, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, will be based in Edmonton.

Edison, a native of Newfoundland, has held a number of progressively senior positions at CN in the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. He resides in Vancouver.

The CN/BC Rail partnership transaction is subject to approval by Canada's Competition Bureau and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2004.

A photograph of Edison, information on the partnership, and maps of the combined networks are available at www.cn.ca/BCRailpartnership, or click on the CN-BC Rail icon on CN's home page, www.cn.ca.

Canadian National Railway Company 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 cities 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.