Canadian National Railway
From Railroad Depot
| Canadian National Railway | |
|---|---|
| |
 Canadian National system map | |
| Reporting marks | CN CNA CNIS |
| Locale | Canada]], Central United States |
| Dates of operation | 1918 – present |
| Headquarters | Montreal Canada |
The Canadian National Railway (AAR reporting marks CN, CNA, CNIS), known as Canadian National Railways (CNR) between 1918 and 1960, and Canadian National/Canadien National (CN) from 1960 to present, is a Canadian Class I railway operated by Canadian National Railway Company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It is the largest railway in Canada, in terms of both revenue and the physical size of its rail network. CN is currently Canada's only transcontinental railway company, spanning Canada from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. It also has extensive trackage in the central United States along the Mississippi River valley from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Canadian National Railway was created between 1918 and 1923, comprising several railways that had become bankrupt and fallen into federal government hands, along with some railways already owned by the government. In 1995, the federal government privatized CN. Over the next decade, the company expanded significantly in the United States, purchasing Illinois Central Railroad and Wisconsin Central Railway, among others. Now primarily a freight railway, CN also operated passenger services until 1978, when they were assumed by VIA Rail.
