Corporation created by the Canadian government in 1918 to operate a number of nationalized railroads (including the old Grand Trunk lines, Intercolonial Railway, National Transcontinental Railway, and Canadian Northern Railway) as one of Canada's two transcontinental railroad systems. Its passenger services were taken over by VIA Rail Canada in 1978, and the company was privatized in 1995. The Canadian National Railway stretches across Canada from Nova Scotia to Vancouver. It bought the Illinois Central Corp. in 1999, thus acquiring a railroad network that links Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

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