Filed by Canadian National Railway Company
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933
Subject Company: Canadian National Railway Company
Commission File No. 333-94399
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT OF PAUL M. TELLIER, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
OF CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY COMPANY, AND
ROBERT D. KREBS, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
OF BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE CORPORATION
WASHINGTON, March 10, 2000 -- Canadian National Railway Company (TSE: CNR; NYSE:
CNI) ("CN") and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI) ("BNSF")
reinforced today that the common control application they will submit to the
Surface Transportation Board (STB) will address the issues, including service
and competition, raised during four days of STB hearings on the future of the
North American railroad industry. Those hearings concluded today.
CN President and Chief Executive Officer Paul M. Tellier and BNSF Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer Robert D. Krebs said: "We have listened attentively to
all participants in the four days of hearings. Testimony fell far short of a
consensus in favor of a moratorium on considering new rail mergers. Participants
expressed a desire for better service and assurances that service failures
associated with the two most recent rail mergers will not be repeated.
"We recognize that shippers are concerned about service and the need for
heightened competition. As a result, we will include in our application a
Service Integration Plan similar to the required Safety Integration Plan. The
Service Integration Plan will address how we will provide service equal to or
better than we are currently providing shippers.
"We are committed to service guarantees and we will continue to explore with
shippers ways to inject greater competition into the industry, in addition to
keeping all efficient gateways open. We also will include in our application a
dispute-resolution process for shippers who are less than satisfied with our
service as part of the required STB post-combination oversight process. In
addition, our application will demonstrate how we will preserve and enhance
competition both on the North American Railway network and off line and where we
have heard expressions of concern.
"We are willing to address employee issues as demonstrated by our agreement,
announced March 6, with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
"We thank the STB for holding this hearing separate from the review of our
control application."
# # #
CN contact: BNSF contact:
Mark Hallman Dick Russack
(416) 217-6390 (817) 352-6425
CN and North American Railways, Inc. have filed a registration statement on Form
F-4/S-4 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in
connection with the securities to be issued in the combination. The registration
statement has not been declared effective. This filing also includes the
preliminary proxy statement for the shareholders' meetings to be held for
approval of the combination. Investors should read this document and
other documents filed with the SEC by CN, BNSF and North American Railways, Inc.
about the combination because they contain important information. These
documents may be obtained for free at the SEC's Web site, www.sec.gov. Other
filings made by CN on Forms 40-F and 6-K may be obtained for free from the CN
Corporate Secretary's office at (514) 399-6569. Other filings made by BNSF on
Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K may be obtained for free from the BNSF Corporate
Secretary's office at (817) 352-6856. For information concerning participants in
CN's solicitation of proxies for approval of the combination, see "Certain
Information Concerning Participants" filed by CN under Rule 14a-12. For
information concerning participants in BNSF's solicitation of proxies for
approval of the combination, see "Certain Information Concerning Participants"
filed by BNSF on Schedule 14A under Rule 14a-12.
This letter contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the
future performance of CN, BNSF and the combined company that involve risk and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Those risks
and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, customer demand, industry
competition and regulatory developments, natural events such as severe weather,
floods and earthquakes, the effects of adverse economic conditions affecting
the Companies' shippers, changes in fuel prices and the ultimate outcome of
shipper claims, environmental investigations or proceedings and other types of
claims and litigations. We refer you to the documents that CN, BNSF and the
combined company file from time with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission, such as a registration statement related to securities to be used
in connection with the proposed business combinations, as well and the
Companies' form 10-K, form 40-F, form 10-Q, form 8-K and form 6-K reports,
which contain additional important factors that could cause their results to
differ from their current expectations and the forward-looking statements
contained in this letter.
