West Coast Express Annual Santa Train
December 11th & 18th
On Saturday December 11th and 18th, the West Coast Express (WCE) will, again, be operating it's extremely popular, annual Santa Train. The Santa Train is a special annual toy drive that makes the scenic 65 km journey from Mission (while stopping at all the WCE stations on its way) to Vancouver's Waterfront Station.
But while the Santa Train provides a good time (for families onboard), it also supports a great cause. Over the years, it has made a significant difference for many less fortunate families throughout the communities the WCE serves. Now in its 14th year, the Santa Train collects toys on behalf of the various Christmas bureau's throughout the northeast sector – including SHARE in the Tri-Cities, the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Christmas Hamper Society, and the Christmas Bureau in Mission.
To ride the Santa Train, all you need to do is bring a new, un-used and unwrapped toy to any WCE station (on either December 11th or 18th); in exchange for your unwrapped toy, you will receive a return ticket for the West Coast Express – to be used the same day.
However, this year the Santa Train will be even more charitable. As a way of providing even more help, to those in need, the Santa Train will be expanded beyond its traditional toy drive role to include a food drive as well. As a result, between December 11th and 18th canned goods can now be dropped off at the food collections bins located at Waterfront Station as well as the bins located at our charity train partners – including CTV, Abbottsford Heat hockey club and Black Press.
Though donations of canned food will be especially appreciated, to hop onboard the Santa Train riders will still need to bring a new unwrapped toy. This means that we will not be able to exchange a Santa Train ticket for a food donation; it is, however, a wonderful gesture of added generosity.
In addition to the festive atmosphere onboard, we'll be creating a special holiday event at our Waterfront Station – to coincide with the first Santa Train (on December 11). This special Waterfront Station event will feature seasonal musical, face painting and photo opportunities with Santa, to name a few. But please note, it will be in effect on Saturday December 11 only.
WCE has been providing weekday commuter train service for the 65 kilometer stretch from Mission to Vancouver since 1995. There are eight stations along the WCE route: Mission City, Port Haney, Maple Meadows, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam Central, Port Moody and Waterfront Station. The service carries over 10,000 people per day which equates to well over 2 million annual riders. In addition, they also provide weekend service via their TrainBus highway coach.
For more information about Santa Train, the food donations or any of our charity train partners, please contact Customer Service at (604) 488-8906 or visit www.westcoastexpress.com
