MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway Co. saw profits perk up last quarter as the country’s largest railroad operator rode a surge in grain and fuel shipments amid Canada’s more “positive” investment milieu, its CEO says.
The Montreal-based company on Friday reported a six per cent year-over-year jump in third-quarter net income to $1.21 billion.
Revenues rose 14.5 per cent to $4.77 billion, though some of the extra cash went to cover fuel costs, which leaped 56 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
“Energy continues to be a key growth driver,” said chief executive Tracy Robinson on a call with analysts.
Petroleum and chemical hauls brought in precisely $1 billion in revenue, 17 per cent more than last year.
The tail end of a bumper grain crop also propelled a similar percentage increase in that category.
While CN made no changes to its 2026 financial forecast, Robinson was upbeat about longer-term growth prospects under what she framed as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s more business-friendly government, and despite persistent tariff troubles that have hampered some sectors.
“The Carney administration has leaned into creating a more positive environment for investment,” she said, citing regulatory and tax changes, such as a provision that allows businesses to write off 100 per cent of some new investments.
“This is a very constructive environment and it’s focused on getting Canada’s natural resources, which are in high demand, to markets across the continent and around the world.”
Robinson also noted that a “soon-to-be-finalized” deal with Union Pacific will give Canadian National access to the Mexican manufacturing corridor, as it will grant CN the right to run trains over UP tracks between Memphis and Eagle Pass, TX, which sits along the Rio Grande.
Centering on cars, manufacturing and food, trade between Canada and Mexico amounts to some US$45 billion dollars each year, “much of which is tied to Eastern Canada,” where CN has a more extensive network than rival Canadian Pacific Kanas City Ltd., she said. On the other hand, CPKC boasts the only rail network to span all three countries in North America, handing it even more fluid access to the Mexican market.
On the tariff front, trade along CN tracks has stabilized for now, with some auto, steel and forest shipments rerouted beyond the United States, executives said.
“There are some sectors that are disproportionately and uniquely impacted ... and there are some adjustments that have been made there around the kinds of markets that they’re shipping into,” Robinson said.
“We’ve overcome the $350 million of tariff headwinds from last year,” added chief commercial officer Janet Drysdale.
Domestically, CN faced an emergency in July when a crew had to be evacuated from a train engulfed in flames in northwestern Ontario.
A video of the incident shared widely on social media showed a curtain of orange-red flames closing in on the train near Armstrong, Ont., as trees burned on both sides of the tracks.
Two other crews were also evacuated from trains stopped in their tracks by the blazes.
CN temporarily suspended rail operations in a portion of northwestern Ontario on July 13, halting all freight traffic along a stretch of main-line track crucial to cross-country hauls.
Federal authorities are looking into whether the company broke the law.
On Friday, CN said it earned $2.16 per adjusted diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $1.83 per diluted share a year ago and beating analysts’ expectations of $2.10 per share, according to financial markets firm LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2026.
By Christopher Reynolds
