Canadian National Railway
| Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada | |
System map | |
A CN freight train in Alberta, Canada, pulled by three diesel-electric locomotives (types EMD SD70M-2, SD75I, and SD60F). | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Reporting mark | CN |
| Locale | Canada, United States |
| Dates of operation | 1919–present |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
| Previous gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
| Length | 20,000 mi (32,000 km) |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
The headquarters of CN in Downtown Montreal | |
Native name |
|
|---|---|
| Formerly | Canadian National Railways (1919–1978) |
| Company type | Public |
| |
| Industry | Transport |
| Predecessor | Canadian Northern Railway |
| Founded | June 6, 1919 |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec , Canada |
Key people |
|
| Revenue | CA$17.05 billion (2024) |
| CA$6.247 billion (2024) | |
| CA$4.448 billion (2024) | |
| Total assets | CA$57.07 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | CA$21.05 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | 24,671 (2024) |
| Website | cn |
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The Canadian National Railway Company (French: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) (reporting mark CN) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network, spanning Canada from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia across approximately 20,000 route miles (32,000 km) of track. In the late 20th century, CN gained extensive capacity in the United States by taking over such railroads as the Illinois Central.
CN is a public company with 24,671 employees and, as of July 2024, a market cap of approximately US$75 billion. CN was government-owned, as a Canadian Crown corporation, from its founding in 1919 until being privatized in 1995. As of 2019, Bill Gates was the largest single shareholder of CN stock, owning a 14.2% interest through Cascade Investment and his own Gates Foundation.
From 1919 to 1978, the railway was known as "Canadian National Railways" (CNR).