Canadian National Launches Toronto-Montreal RoadRailer Service.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--

Canadian National (ME:CNR.) (TSE:CNR.) (NYSE:CNI) has launched a state-of-the-art truck/train freight service between Toronto and Montreal with new dual-mode RoadRailer equipment.

The 53-foot RoadRailer trailers - equally at home pulling up to the loading dock on rubber wheels, or racing down the track behind a locomotive - have all the latest features: air ride, 110-inch interior height, more than 4,000 cubic feet of capacity and maximum payload of 70,000 pounds.

"CN is eager to build its freight business in short- and medium-length corridors, and RoadRailer is just the tool we need," said William K. Berry, CN's vice-president, intermodal. "RoadRailer is a proven, cost-effective bimodal technology that enables railroads to compete effectively with over-the-road transport in corridors of 250 miles or longer."

CN spent $13 million to acquire 200 RoadRailer Mark V trailers and 130 RoadRailer railroad bogies for the five-day-a-week, door-to-door service between Toronto and Montreal. Trains of up to 60 RoadRailers depart Toronto and Montreal at 9 p.m., arriving next morning at 5 a.m. Train length will increase as demand warrants. The trailers carry consumer goods, including foods, beverages, paper and building material.

Mark Lerner, director of CN's RoadRailer operations, said: "With RoadRailer, CN is offering shippers the flexibility of truck and efficiency of rail, along with superior CN service. CN's Toronto-Montreal bi-modal service achieved 99 per cent on-time performance between July 1998 and March 1999. We plan to expand RoadRailer service to a number of other CN corridors."

CN's Toronto RoadRailer terminal is at its Malport Terminal, located at 7675 Torbram Road, Mississauga, Ont. In Montreal, the service operates from Taschereau Terminal (East Yard) at 8050 Cavendish Boulevard. The cut-off time for trailer terminal deliveries is 7.30 p.m., with trailers available for over-the-road movement after the their overnight trips by 6 a.m.

RoadRailer trailers can be hauled on and off railroad tracks quickly by truck tractors and do not require overhead cranes.

CN's RoadRailer service is owned and operated by Ecorail, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CN.

RoadRailer technology is produced by Wabash National Corp. of Lafayette, Ind.

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, 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.