The CN Today
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 There came a day
when the C.N.R. was moving into the future so quickly that it felt it needed
to streamline its corporate logo. The now familiar "CN" has been
appearing in red, white, or blue since 1961, not only in Canada but around
the world. CN had always had links with Europe, but today it also has offices
or agents in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan.As the railway was modernized, so too were the services which had grown up around it. During the 1970's, departments such as hotels and communications became separate profit centres, and the pattern of a diversified corporation with interactive, mutually supportive parts emerged. One can scarcely imagine a business more sensitive to change than a railway. Its fortunes can be suddenly and adversely affected by anything from the spring flooding of an obscure river to a shift in political alliances among nations or a drop in the world price of potash. And all the activities surrounding a railway are exceptionally vulnerable as well, to external forces ranging from new technology to public taste. The way Canadians use their railways never stops changing. In 1977, the passenger services of both CN and Canadian Pacific were entrusted to a new Crown corporation, VIA Rail. Since the Second World War, many freight customers relocated from the centre of cities, railway lands were freed for new uses and urban renewal blossomed.
CN Real Estate was set up to develop the railway's lands in the hearts of Canada's major cities by building major office complexes and underground shopping malls. Other railway lands, in the West, were found to be rich in oil and gas, and CN Exploration Inc. has many wells in production.  C.N.R. Telegraph grew into a subsidiary company, CN
Communications, which operates NorthWestel in the Yukon and northern British
Columbia, and Terra Nova Tel in Newfoundland, and, in partnership with Canadian
Pacific, runs the giant CNCP Telecommunication system and Telecommunications
Terminal Systems. CN Communications leases space in the CN Tower to CNCP
Telecommunications and other companies which provide the Metro Toronto area
with "ghost-free" television, radio, and mobile radio systems.CN Investment Division was formed to manage the pension funds of the corporation, which now has almost 50,000 pensioners. And, not surprisingly, CN's broadranging experience in transportation, communications, and related fields, resulted in the establishment of CANAC INTERNATIONAL INC. This business unit assembles teams of specialists, as required, from other parts of CN to work on contract for private enterprises or governments in Canada and around the world. Growth can only occur where there is a willingness to change. For a company, that means adapting to the reality of the needs of its customers and owners, and of the business environment in which it operates. After more than 75 years as a government-owned railway, Canadian National was privatized in 1995. While railways have undergone substancial changes over the years they continue to play a crucial role in Canadian society. Given the nature of Canadian geography and our economy, they will continue to occupy an important place in our transportation systems in the future. |
 
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