KCS to Donate $170K Via Holiday Express
Written by Andrew Corselli
The Holiday Express in 2018.
Kansas City Southern (KCS) recently announced that its 19th annual Holiday Express will distribute $170,450 to The Salvation Army at stops along the route to provide warm clothing and other necessities for kids in need this holiday season.
The train will stop in 20 communities in five states on 25 dates. At each stop, visitors can board the train, meet Santa and his elves, and tour the inside of three cars of the festive six-car train. Each event is free and open to the public, and the full schedule can be found here.
Led by KCS’s Southern Belle business train, the Holiday Express train includes a smiling tank car “Rudy”; a flat car carrying Santa’s sleigh, reindeer and a miniature village; a gingerbread boxcar; an elves’ workshop; the reindeer stable; and a little red caboose. Each car is dressed in lights.
The KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa Train, which ran on a segment of the network bought by KCS in 1997. In 2000, a group of KCS employees noticed that the Santa Train was the only Christmas some kids had, and that some kids did not have essential items like coats, hats and gloves, so they committed to elevating the project. In 2001, volunteers transformed a retired freight train to the KCS Holiday Express experience.
“Special thanks to the major sponsors who helped make this year’s charitable contribution possible, including APL Logistics Americas Ltd, Bartlett Grain/Savage Companies, Deanne Porter and KCS President and CEO Patrick Ottensmeyer, Husch Blackwell LLP, Kansas City Southern Historical Society, Michael and Marlys Haverty Family Foundation, Precision Waste Solutions, L.L.C., RailPros, The Kansas City Southern Charitable Fund and Watco Companies,” KCS noted. Additional sponsors can be found on KCS’s website.
“KCS looks forward to bringing Santa and his elves on the Holiday Express train to communities throughout our U.S. network,” said Ottensmeyer. “We are especially pleased to continue the long-standing tradition of charitable giving. This project brings people together, strengthens community ties, and supports our corporate vision and values.”
