CN donates $500,000 to University of Alberta’s Canadian Rail Research Laboratory to advance efficiency, safety studies

EDMONTON, Alberta, March 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX:CNR) (NYSE:CNI) and the University of Alberta today announced the railway will renew its long-standing partnership in support of the Canadian Rail Research Laboratory with a new donation of $500,000.

"The Canadian Rail Research Laboratory has produced ideas and innovations that have helped us enhance railway safety and reliability,” said Kevin Day, senior director, field technology and data analytics at CN. “We are proud to continue our strategic collaboration and look forward to developing additional projects that focus on improving the safe and efficient operations of the railway industry.”

With this new donation, CN has committed more than $1 million to the Canadian Rail Research Laboratory (CaRRL) since 2011.

Established in 2010 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, the laboratory is an industry collaboration that has examined topics such as train air brake systems and regulations governing the transport of dangerous goods. In the coming years, CaRRL will continue to focus on improving the efficiency and safety of railway operations, specifically studying track and railway equipment performance and optimizing operations in Canada’s harsh cold weather environment.

“CN’s commitment to safe, reliable railway systems aligns strongly with our expertise in this field and with our shared values of improved performance and safety, for the public good,” said Dr. Michael T. Hendry, assistant professor at the University of Alberta and associate director of CaRRL. “We are grateful for CN’s support and participation in this important research.”

CN is a true backbone of the economy whose team of approximately 24,000 railroaders transports 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.