Canadian National Announces Improved Domestic Intermodal Services Between Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Business Editors

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 2000

Canadian National (TSE:CNR.) (NYSE:CNI) announced today the launch of four new domestic intermodal trains that make CN more competitive with over-the-road truckers operating between major centers in Central and Atlantic Canada.

The new domestic services linking Toronto, Montreal, Moncton and Halifax complement significant recent improvements in CN's transcontinental intermodal schedules between Toronto and Western Canada.

E. Hunter Harrison, CN's executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said: "The redesign of CN's Atlantic Canada domestic intermodal services offers shippers a competitive alternative to trucking lines to reach distant markets more effectively and gives them a new way to control supply chain costs.

"We've listened to our customers. They said they needed the latest possible cut-off times to drop off containers and highway trailers at originating CN intermodal terminals. They told us they needed earlier availability of boxes and trailers for pick-up at destination terminals. They said they needed speed and precision. We've delivered what they need. That's the right way to run a railroad. And that's how we're going to get a larger share of the market for freight transportation."

The new domestic intermodal services benefit from faster transit times, careful scheduling and tight terminal operations. Trains run six days a week, Monday through Saturday.

The heavy hitter in CN's new Atlantic Canada domestic intermodal line-up is a dedicated Toronto-Moncton-Halifax train that bypasses Montreal, improving transit time. The train has a late evening cut-off in Toronto, with trailers and containers available in Moncton for pick-up at 2230 hours the next day, six hours earlier than the previous schedule. Toronto-Halifax shippers benefit from a later cut-off in Toronto and 0600 hours availability of trailers and containers at Halifax on day two, more than an hour earlier than before. With a new train, intermodal shipments in the Montreal-Halifax lane also enjoy 0600 hours availability at destination.

Westbound intermodal traffic from Moncton to Toronto is now available for pick-up in Toronto four and a half hours earlier at 0400 hours. Halifax-Toronto containers and trailers are available at destination two and a half hours earlier at 0600 hours, day two.

William Berry, CN's vice-president, intermodal, said: "Many shippers stand to gain from the service redesign. Less-than-truckload carriers and shippers will see their eastbound traffic arrive in Moncton the first night out. That's 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) in 24 hours, and that's truck competitive. This schedule means shipments are ready for early morning delivery the second day. Full-load shippers will also enjoy earlier arrivals in the Maritimes, permitting more timely highway delivery to more distant locations throughout the region.

"The westbound story is just as good. Shippers requiring second morning delivery of goods in Toronto will benefit from earlier arrivals. In addition, shippers wanting to move traffic beyond Toronto to western Canada can use CN's recently redesigned transcontinental intermodal schedules, which have cut almost 24 hours off previous transit times between Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver."

The new transcontinental domestic intermodal trains offer shippers, for the first time, rail intermodal service that's fully competitive with expedited transcontinental truck transit times in truckload and less-than-truckload markets.

From Toronto CN offers second morning service to Winnipeg, third morning service to Saskatoon, Edmonton and Calgary, and fourth morning service to Vancouver. Most eastbound intermodal movements also enjoy day-faster transit times.

CN is targeting its expedited transcontinental intermodal trains at customers shipping time-sensitive products such as retail and grocery stores, as well as parcel and less-than-truckload carriers.

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, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America.