advertisement

---

Canadian Pacific presented a $250,000 check to the national food distribution organization Feeding America in a ceremony at CP's Holiday Train stop in Minneapolis yesterday. The event highlighted the Class I's support of Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

The check presentation follows CP's Nov. 14 announcement of a $1 million donation to various charities to help Hurricane Sandy victims. The donation included a match of $250,000 in monetary donations made at CP's Holiday Train fundraising events to go directly to Feed America, CP officials said in a prepared statement.

The donation will provide more than two million meals to help feed Americans who might otherwise go hungry due to disasters like Hurricane Sandy, said Feeding America Director Yvonne Douge.

CP's annual Holiday Train travels across the United States and Canada, collecting money for local food pantries. To read more about CP's and other railroads' holiday trains, follow this link.

Meanwhile, MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) began operating full morning and evening rush-hour service on Monday, after Amtrak completed restoration of the signal system capacity in one of its two East River tunnels that sustained flood damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Monday's service marked LIRR's first full service rush hour since the storm hit six weeks ago.

In replacing the damaged signal system, combined with an increase in speed on a loop track connecting the East River tunnels with the Sunnyside storage yard, Amtrak restored sufficient train capacity to allow for increased levels of service during the LIRR rush hour periods, LIRR officials and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a prepared statement.

The second tunnel signal system is expected to be restored to full capacity in time for the Christmas holiday, they said.

"We have been working closely with Amtrak to complete the work and find creative solutions to restore full LIRR service as soon as possible," said LIRR President Helena Williams.