CN will invest $US 165m in Illinois for the renewal of infrastructure. The investment will focus on the renewal of Chicago’s St Charles Airline Bridge. In addition, it will cover the replacement of 14.5km of rail, including the installation of 180,000 sleepers, as well as the reconstruction of 45 level crossings and routine maintenance of infrastructure such as bridges, signalling and culverts. The state is home to CN’s largest presence in the USA, with an estimated 2937km network and roughly 1825 employees.
Wisconsin will receive $US 100m primarily focusing on a new car processing and transshipment facility in New Richmond, as well as the replacement of 14.5km of rail including 60,000 sleepers and maintenance of track infrastructure.
Louisiana will receive $US 60m, which will be focused primarily on the McComb Spillway Bridge reconstruction project, as well as infrastructure maintenance.
Michigan will receive $US 55m for maintenance, as well as the expansion of its Flint car processing centre, the introduction of autonomous track inspection coaches and the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC).
Investment is planned in Mississippi ($US 50m), Iowa ($US 35m), Tennessee ($US 30m) and Minnesota ($US 25m) for the upgrading of rail yards, the implementation of PTC and routine maintenance.
The investment in each state is intended to increase capacity and stimulate economic activity and follows $C 1.3bn ($US 771.4m) of similar infrastructure investments in the company’s Canadian network.
