Festive season rolls into Montreal West with CPKC Holiday Train
Posted November 19, 2025 9:17 am.
Last Updated November 19, 2025 11:41 pm.
The holiday season officially arrived on rails Wednesday night as the CPKC Holiday Train made its first stop of the 2025 tour in Montreal West.
The holiday season officially arrived on rails Wednesday night as the CPKC Holiday Train made its first stop of the 2025 tour in Montreal West. The brightly lit, music-filled train, now in its 27th year, once again brought together entertainment, community spirit, and vital support for food banks across North America.
The vibrant display of lights and live performances drew large crowds eager to welcome the start of the festive season. For organizers, the excitement came not only from the spectacle but from the purpose behind it.
“Every year, our railroaders take great pride in bringing the Holiday Train across our network, this year reaching even more communities for the first time,” said Keith Creel, CPKC President and CEO. “We are thrilled to send this beautiful train filled with lights and music to spread the joy of the season and proud to support the giving spirit of the holidays, assisting people experiencing food insecurity. It’s incredible to see communities come together every year to celebrate the holidays while supporting local food banks.”
Montreal West hosts inaugural stop
The train pulled into the Montreal West EXO Commuter Station around 7 p.m., where Smash Mouth and JJ Wilde kicked off the tour with high-energy performances.
A second stop followed later Wednesday night in Beaconsfield with the same artists taking the stage.
Rebecca Stephen, Director of Communications for CPKC, explained the scale of the initiative and why the launch in Montreal was significant.
“Today is the first night of our holiday train, which is launching from here in Montreal,” she said. “This one specifically is going to go all the way down to Dallas, Texas, and then come back up and end in Calgary. The other one is going to go through Maine starting tomorrow and go all the way to Vancouver. So we go across the country, we raise money and awareness for local food banks. All of the money raised tonight stays here in Montreal. And we really enjoy this opportunity to give back to the communities we operate through.”
Attendees were encouraged to bring donations—either food or monetary—as part of the railway’s ongoing effort to support local food banks during one of their busiest seasons.
“People can bring food and or monetary donations, but we really just want to bring some holiday spirit to people and bring some light and community for people across the network,” Stephen said.
A mission to fight food insecurity
For CPKC, the Holiday Train served as more than a festive spectacle—it was a major fundraiser dedicated to addressing food insecurity across its vast network.
“It’s really important to us to give back to the communities we operate in,” Stephen explained. “Every dollar donated, including the cheque that we’re going to present here and in Beaconsfield tonight, all stays in the community. So we stop at over 190 places across the network this holiday season, making a donation at every single stop so that we can help tackle food insecurity with our local communities, because we know it’s very important.”
Since its launch in 1999, the Holiday Train has raised more than $26 million and collected over 5.4 million pounds of food for community food banks across Canada and the United States.
A season of music, lights, and community
This year’s tour features 196 live performances across six Canadian provinces and 13 U.S. states, with 13 communities receiving the train for the first time. The lineup includes Barenaked Ladies, Tyler Shaw, Brittany Kennell, Jade Eagleson, American Authors, Pynk Beard, Teigen Gayse, Lanco, Tiera Kennedy, and Dylan Marlowe.
Stephen noted that Montreal’s opening-night performers—Smash Mouth and JJ Wilde—will remain on the route until Shreveport, Louisiana.
“Here in Montreal and tomorrow and all the way through to Shreveport, Louisiana, we’ll have Smash Mouth and JJ Wilde. JJ Wilde is Canadian. The U.S. train will have a couple of different performers, but it’ll end with Bear Naked Ladies in Calgary to Vancouver,” she said.
As crowds gathered trackside to witness the spectacle, CPKC staff said the effort continued to be one of their most meaningful initiatives of the year.
“We’re just really happy that people are coming out and really enjoying the show,” Stephen added.
Community reactions: ‘I came here to see the amazing, beautiful train‘
Beyond the performers and lights, the night’s excitement was felt most clearly through the voices of the children and families who came to experience the train up close.
One young boy said he had been waiting a long time to see the train in person.
“I came here to see the amazing, beautiful train for the first time in life. It’s so cool. I like the details, the Christmas. The songs was amazing. And when they added the smoke, it was super cool. I couldn’t lie,” he said. “I liked the look of it, the details, the songs… But I came for the train the most because of the satisfying music.”
Another boy said he came out simply because the train—and the celebration—were too special to miss.
“I came out just because of the train, because of the beautiful colours. And I liked the performance. I mean, I liked everything, even the lights, because the lights were Christmasy and I like Christmas stuff,” he said.
A young girl shared that the event had become part of her holiday traditions.
“I mostly came here because Christmas is one of my favourite time of the year,” she said. “I came to watch the Christmas train for the second time in my life… the train is just very pretty, just like with all the lights.
For two sisters and their friend, the stop in Montreal West marked the true beginning of the season.
“We’re sisters and so we wanted to celebrate the holidays,” one said.
“We wanted to start the holiday season off right,” another added.
“Yes, and I even brought to donate for the kids in need… It’s a good train,” they said.
