The Canadian National Railway (CN) is the largest railway in Canada and owns the most extensive network of tracks in the country. Originally a Crown Corporation owned by the government, it was privatized in 1995 and now operates as a public company. CN’s network is truly massive, spanning approximately 18,600 route miles and stretching from the Atlantic coast in Nova Scotia to the Pacific coast in British Columbia, and even down through the central United States to the Gulf of Mexico. This makes it the only "transcontinental" railway in North America that reaches three different coasts. Its primary competitor, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC)—formed by the 2023 merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern—is the second-largest, but CN remains the leader in terms of total Canadian track mileage and freight volume. CN is a backbone of the Canadian economy, transporting everything from grain and forest products to automobiles and chemicals across the vast Canadian wilderness.