VRE Announces Operation Lifesaver Santa Train Ticket Sales

Santa and Mrs. Claus will once again be meeting and greeting kids aboard Virginia Railway Express (VRE) trains to promote rail safety and Operation Lifesaver’s “Look, Listen and Live” campaign.

Tickets for the Dec. 14, 2013, VRE Santa Trains go on sale at 9 a.m. on Monday Nov. 25. 

Here's the scoop:

• Santa Trains will run out of four stations: Burke Centre, Fredericksburg, Manassas and Woodbridge.
• Half of the tickets will be sold at ticket outlets and the other half will be sold online.
  
• Tickets cannot be reserved or sold in advance.
• Tickets are $5 at the outlets and $6 on-line, with net proceeds benefiting Operation Lifesaver.
  
• Ticket sales are limited to six (6) per person for most trains.
• Santa Train tickets are not refundable or exchangeable.
• Online tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 25.  The link for purchasing tickets will be on each respective station's webpage. 
• Online purchases can be made with credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover) or with a preexisting PayPal account.
• All online tickets will be mailed to the address provided in PayPal.
• Tickets for each station will only be sold at one location (except online sales which will have a limited number of tickets for each train).
• Payment at the ticket outlets may be made with cash or check, payable to VRE. 
• All passengers, regardless of age, must have tickets.
  
• Regular VRE tickets will NOT be honored for this special event.
  
• Tickets will not be sold at the station the day of the event and must be purchased in advance.
• For online purchases, any person attempting to purchase more than six (6) tickets for specific trains will have their ENTIRE ORDER REFUNDED, thus not receiving any tickets. NO EXCEPTIONS.

For additional ticket information, visit the specific station pages:

• Woodbridge
• Fredericksburg
• Manassas
• Burke Centre

Each Santa Train will be an excursion - passengers will return to the same station from which they begin.

Joining Santa and Mrs. Claus onboard will be high school choral groups and Santa’s helpers, who will hand out candy canes and coloring books. 

VRE's annual holiday event is hugely popular.  Last year online tickets sold out within minutes, and tickets sold by vendors were gone within three hours.

VRE said its Santa Trains are about holiday fun, but they're also about reminding everyone of this serious and important message from Operation Lifesaver: "Look, listen and live!"

Bring a toy with you to your Santa Train ride on Dec. 14.  That day the Fredericksburg, Manassas, Burke Centre and Woodbridge stations will serve as drop-off sites for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Campaign. "We are encouraging everyone to bring a toy to the Santa Trains so that someone less fortunate in the Virginia area can share in the joys of the holidays," VRE said.