The Canadian National Railway Company (French: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada), commonly known as CN, is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN operates across Canada and extends into the Midwestern and Southern United States. As Canada's largest railway by revenue and network size, CN's rail network spans approximately 20,000 route miles (32,000 km), stretching from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia. In the late 20th century, CN expanded its presence in the United States by acquiring railroads such as the Illinois Central. CN is a publicly traded company with 22,600 employees and a market capitalization of around US$75 billion as of July 2024. Originally founded in 1919 as a Canadian Crown corporation, CN remained government-owned until its privatization in 1995. Notably, as of 2019, Bill Gates was the largest individual shareholder of CN, holding a 14.2% stake through Cascade Investment and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. From 1919 to 1978, the railway was officially known as "Canadian National Railways" (CNR).

Canadian National Railway - Wikipedia