CN announced today plans to invest C$1.75 billion in 2012 to maintain and upgrade its railway network, support growth and productivity initiatives, and continue to provide customers with a high level of service.

Claude Mongeau, president and chief executive officer, said: “CN is taking its business model to the next level with its focus on Operational and Service Excellence. We are making major strides in improving all customer service touch points, delivering innovative products and achieving end-to-end supply chain collaboration while continually improving productivity. CN’s capital spending is critical to running a safe, fluid and productive network and to attaining our growth and service objectives.”

More than C$1 billion of CN’s 2012 capital investment program will be targeted on track infrastructure to maintain safe railway operations and to enhance the productivity and fluidity of the rail network. This includes replacement of rail, ties and other track materials and bridge improvements.

CN’s infrastructure envelope also includes funds for initiatives such as rail-line and yard improvements on the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company that CN acquired in 2009, extended sidings along its Edmonton-Prince Rupert, B.C., corridor, and longer passing tracks in Northern Ontario.

Equipment spending, which is intended to improve the quality of the fleet and meet customer requirements, will include the acquisition of new freight cars and locomotive upgrading and is targeted to reach approximately C$150 million in 2012.

CN also expects to spend approximately C$500 million on various projects to take advantage of growth opportunities and to acquire information technology to support Operational and Service Excellence and other opportunities that enhance productivity.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this news release constitutes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws. CN cautions that, by their nature, these forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company cautions that its assumptions may not materialize and that current economic conditions render such assumptions, although reasonable at the time they were made, subject to greater uncertainty. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results or performance of the Company or the rail industry to be materially different from the outlook or any future results or performance implied by such statements.

Important risk factors that could affect the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic and business conditions, industry competition, inflation, currency and interest rate fluctuations, changes in fuel prices, legislative and/or regulatory developments, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, actions by regulators, various events which could disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe weather, droughts, floods and earthquakes, labor negotiations and disruptions, environmental claims, uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of claims and litigation, risks and liabilities arising from derailments, and other risks detailed from time to time in reports filed by CN with securities regulators in Canada and the United States. Reference should be made to “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” in CN’s annual and interim reports, Annual Information Form and Form 40-F filed with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators, available on CN’s website, for a summary of major risks.

CN assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable Canadian securities laws. In the event CN does update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that CN will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related maters, or any other forward-looking statement.

CN - Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway subsidiaries - 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 metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information on CN, visit the company’s website at www.cn.ca