CN achieves PTC milestones before year-end deadline

HOMEWOOD, Ill., Dec. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) said today it has met all Dec. 31, 2018 milestones in its positive train control (PTC) implementation plan and applied on November 7 for a two-year extension to complete deployment and interoperability.

Mandated by the U.S. Congress to be installed on certain mainline tracks, PTC is a system designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, derailments caused by excessive speed, and certain unauthorized train movements on a given track segment. By the end of 2018, U.S. railways must have all PTC hardware installed, all needed radio spectrum acquired, and have PTC initiated on more than half their required territory.  

Railways that meet those benchmarks can obtain a 24-month extension from the Federal Railroad Administration to complete full PTC implementation by Dec. 31, 2020.

CN has achieved the following milestones for its PTC system:

• Installed all planned 1,662 radio towers
• Trained all 5,614 employees required
• Completed PTC hardware installation on all 586 required locomotives and 35 required track segments.
• Initiated PTC on 19 of 35 track segments, or 54 percent of required track segments, representing approximately 1,568 miles.

CN is investing US$1.4 billion on the entire project to install PTC on approximately 3,100 route-miles in the United States.

CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting more than C$250 billion worth of goods annually for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN – Canadian National Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries – serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information about CN, visit the Company’s website at www.cn.ca.