Canadian Pacific Holiday Train Visits Golden Valley
Large crowds watched the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train pull into Golden Valley on Tuesday night. Catching the train is a tradition for many families. The city of Golden Valley and volunteers from Allianz worked to make the stop a safe and smooth event.
Planning and Preparation
“Our work starts several months before the holiday train arrives,” says Marc Nevinski, physical development director for Golden Valley. “We want folks to have fun and be safe, so there’s a great deal of thought that goes into that.”
From arranging for road closures, public safety crews, and even Porta-potties to accommodate the crowd, Golden Valley partners with Allianz, which is located right by the stop.
“We get a call from the city that this is the date that has been proposed. We think what can we do and how can we handle it?” says Fred Atkinson, AVP of corporate services at Allianz. “Absolutely we can. We want to do this.”
Throwing a Curveball
The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train has stopped at this Golden Valley stop before on the weekends, but this year the schedule brought them into town on a weekday.
“We learned this year that the holiday train will be stopping on a Tuesday night during rush hour and that made us a little nervous,” says Nevinski.
Allianz collaborated with the city to change traffic patterns so workers could get home without any added delays. Attendees could also utilize available parking in the ramp.
“Our biggest concern is always safety, because we’ve got a lot of people coming on to our campus,” says Atkinson. “This year it’s a little bit more complex because it’s during the week and at the end of the business day when a lot of people are going home.”
Some Allianz workers chose to stay and watch the train’s festivities, which started around 5 p.m.
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