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CPKC Holiday Train Sets New Record In 2025

CPKC Holiday Train Sets New Record In 2025

Published: February 16, 2026

Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s (CPKC) beloved Holiday Train wrapped up its 2025 tour with a milestone that underscores just how powerful a community tradition can become: the program raised more than $2 million and collected more than 175,000 pounds of food for local food banks across Canada and the United States—both record-setting totals for the annual campaign.

The Holiday Train’s annual run has long been equal parts spectacle and service: a brightly lit train rolling into towns at night, stopping for a short outdoor concert, and turning the energy of the crowd into donations that stay in the community. In 2025, that formula reached a new high-water mark as CPKC’s two trainsets visited hundreds of communities during the peak giving season.

A 2025 tour measured in miles, music, and meals

CPKC’s 2025 Holiday Train operated from Nov. 19 through Dec. 21, a little over a month of nearly nonstop movement and nightly events. Over that span, the railroad hosted 194 live music performances across six Canadian provinces and 13 U.S. states, bringing the show—literally—to station platforms, grade crossings, downtown sidings, and other trackside gathering points.

At each stop, spectators are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items and/or cash donations for local food banks and food shelves. CPKC also makes financial contributions as part of the program, reinforcing the point that the Holiday Train is designed to be more than a promotional tour—it’s a moving fundraiser whose impact is tallied in meals and pantry shelves stocked for winter.

CPKC President and CEO Keith Creel credited the success to the people lining the tracks, noting in a holiday-wrap announcement that the event continues to prove “generosity and community spirit” at a scale that’s hard to match.

While the Holiday Train’s 2025 record numbers are impressive on their own, they also arrive at a time when food banks across North America continue to report high demand, especially during the late-fall and winter months. Against that backdrop, a touring fundraiser that can deliver both immediate supplies and direct cash support—community by community—has become a uniquely effective model.

Who performed in 2025?

Music is the program’s heartbeat: each Holiday Train includes a specially outfitted performance car that opens into a stage for a short concert at every stop. In 2025, featured performers included Barenaked Ladies, Tyler Shaw, and American Authors, among others, helping draw crowds and amplify the message that donations matter.

That blend—recognized artists, free shows, and a “bring a donation” mission—has become the Holiday Train’s signature. The concert is fun, family-friendly, and brief enough to keep the tour moving, but meaningful enough to turn a cold evening trackside into a memorable holiday tradition.

A brief history of the Holiday Train

The Holiday Train began in 1999 under Canadian Pacific (CP), created as a seasonal outreach effort that paired a decorated train with a simple request: come see the lights, enjoy the music, and support your local food bank. Over time, it grew from a novel idea into a major annual campaign, expanding its route footprint, refining the on-board stage setup, and building a following that tracks the train’s schedule year after year.

A few elements helped it endure:

It’s local by design. Donations collected at a stop go to the local food bank or food shelf serving that area, giving communities a direct connection between the event and its impact.
It’s built around a traveling stage. The performance component turns the stop into a mini-concert and community rally, not just a photo opportunity.
It’s consistent. In an era when many promotional events come and go, the Holiday Train returns annually, making it easy for communities to plan, promote, and participate.

Following the Canadian Pacific–Kansas City Southern combination, the railroad now operates as CPKC, and the Holiday Train has continued under that banner—still recognizable in spirit and presentation, but representing a new tri-national rail network.

CPKC has also extended the holiday-train concept beyond Canada and the U.S. In Mexico, the company has operated a decorated “Tren Navideño” as part of an outreach tradition that began in 2010, reflecting the broader geographic scope of the CPKC system.

The bigger picture: totals since 1999

The 2025 results add to a long-running tally that illustrates the Holiday Train’s cumulative influence. Since the program’s launch in 1999, it has raised more than $28.3 million and collected more than 5.6 million pounds of food for food banks and food shelves.

That matters for two reasons. First, it shows that the Holiday Train isn’t a one-off charitable push—it’s a sustained campaign that has built capacity for hunger-relief organizations over decades. Second, the growing totals highlight how the model scales: each individual stop may be a brief event, but strung together across hundreds of towns, the impact becomes enormous.

The Holiday Train's impact

In many communities, food-bank donation drives compete for attention during an already-crowded holiday calendar. The Holiday Train cuts through that noise because it’s tangible: you can see it, hear it, and bring something to it. The railroad’s infrastructure becomes the venue, and the “arrival” becomes the moment when giving feels immediate and shared.

It also helps that the event doesn’t ask people to do much—just show up, enjoy the show, and bring a donation. For families, it can be a seasonal tradition. For local hunger-relief organizations, it’s a dependable annual boost. For volunteers and civic leaders, it’s a rally point that keeps the conversation focused on need, not just celebration.