CHICAGO and INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 16, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - CN (TSX: CNR)
(NYSE: CNI) and the Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD) announced today an
agreement on the construction of an intermodal terminal in Indianapolis
and their plan to offer Indiana importers and exporters an all-rail
option for containerized products moving to/from Asia.
CN serves the Port of Vancouver, B.C., and the Port of Prince Rupert,
B.C., and a wide range of container shipping lines that offer scheduled
service from all major Asian ports.
"CN is pleased to enter into this partnership with the Indiana Rail
Road," said Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief
marketing officer. "This all-rail service will reduce transit times and
improve transportation consistency for Indiana importers, making their
supply chains more competitive. CN's level-of-service agreements with
the container terminal operators at Vancouver and Prince Rupert deliver
superior fluidity from ship-to-rail at the ports."
"This is a great day for Indianapolis-area importers and exporters who
for years have asked for all-rail, direct-west coast intermodal service
to the city," said Tom Hoback, INRD founder, president and chief
executive officer. "Anyone who drives Interstate 65 between
Indianapolis and Chicago knows what a bottleneck it is. CN-INRD
intermodal service will offer a more reliable, consistent and
environmentally-friendly movement of goods that is less susceptible to
costly weather and congestion delays."
The new Indianapolis terminal is under construction and will be located
at INRD's existing Senate Avenue Terminal, strategically located in
downtown Indianapolis, less than a mile from Lucas Oil Stadium. It will
be complemented by a container yard and will start receiving empty
containers June 15, 2013; an on-site agricultural products
containerized export loading facility will be in service about the same
time. The first import train will arrive in late June.
CN estimates containerized import goods will flow in as little as 18-20
days from port loading in Shanghai and Qingdao, China, and Busan,
Korea, to the INRD Senate Avenue Terminal, when using first port of
call service.
About INRD
The Indiana Rail Road Company is a privately-held, 500-mile railroad
based in Indianapolis. The company hauls the equivalent of more than
800,000 truckloads of consumer, industrial and energy products each
year. On the strength of its customer service, INRD was awarded Railway Age magazine's prestigious "Regional Railroad of the Year" award for 2012.
The company is also active in the community, operating the popular Santa
Train, serving as a major sponsor of "Jingle Rails" at the Eiteljorg
Museum of American Indians and Western Art, and providing education and
public safety-related community grants. For more information, visit the
Indiana Rail Road online at www.inrd.com or on Twitter and Facebook.
About CN
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 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 information on CN, visit the company's website at www.cn.ca.
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 factors that could affect the above
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 and assumptions
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 matters, or any other forward-looking statement.
SOURCE: CN