Eurovision 2023 and the railways

[BenS123]

Liverpool beats Glasgow to be Eurovision Song Contest host city​

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/entertainment-arts-63175494

I was wondering how the railways would cope with this scale of event, and hopefully Avanti can improve their service significantly before/for the event

 

[JonathanH]

Liverpool beats Glasgow to be Eurovision Song Contest host city​

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/entertainment-arts-63175494

I was wondering how the railways would cope with this scale of event, and hopefully Avanti can improve their service significantly before/for the event

Looks like a good event to target for that month's rail strikes.

 

[Sm5]

They should really be hosting this in Poland, if it cannot be in Ukraine.
it felt like a land grab by the UK to me, when this victory isnt ours.

Now were already milking it for all its worth.

 

[The Planner]

They should really be hosting this in Poland, if it cannot be in Ukraine.
it felt like a land grab by the UK to me, when this victory isnt ours.

Now were already milking it for all its worth.

No one else could afford it, its questionable that we can.

 

[Bevan Price]

I imagine most of the overseas visitors will fly into Liverpool or Manchester, with coaches to hotels in or near Liverpool.

 

[Wolfie]

They should really be hosting this in Poland, if it cannot be in Ukraine.
it felt like a land grab by the UK to me, when this victory isnt ours.

Now were already milking it for all its worth.

Other than physical proximity to Ukraine why exactly? You are, l assume, aware that there are historical issues between Ukraine and Poland? You are also assuming that Poland actually wished to host it.

 

[Djgr]

Other than physical proximity to Ukraine why exactly? You are, l assume, that there are historical issues between Ukraine and Poland? You are also assuming that Poland actually wished to host it.

and came second in the competition

 

[AGH]

All hotels in the city have already gone so expect anyone not booked already to stay on the fringes. Merseytravel should be starting negotiation soon for late night services being extended if they have any sense. Northern should as well but as a local I'm less confident of that. Taxi drivers will make a fortune that week I suspect. It's an opportunity to send out a great message but why do I have a feeling we will shoot ourselves in our feet.

 

[Agent_Squash]

Do you think Northern will be told to put the 195s/331s on Liverpool services so we look slightly better to the Europeans?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Oct 2022 ==

They should really be hosting this in Poland, if it cannot be in Ukraine.
it felt like a land grab by the UK to me, when this victory isnt ours.

Now were already milking it for all its worth.

Not really, we came second place, part of the Big 5 who typically step in to help with situations like this, one of the more supportive countries in terms of aid to Ukraine, and I mean the logo literally is the Ukrainian flag.

 

[HullRailMan]

They should really be hosting this in Poland, if it cannot be in Ukraine.
it felt like a land grab by the UK to me, when this victory isnt ours.

Now were already milking it for all its worth.

Total nonsense. The European Broadcasting Union approached the BBC as the UK came second, as per the laid down process. The BBC has stepped in to host without a UK win on four previous occasions, so the UK really has done it’s part to keep Eurovision going over the years, despite the cost.

 

[Starmill]

Do you think Northern will be told to put the 195s/331s on Liverpool services so we look slightly better to the Europeans?

No? Why would they.

It's not really an enormous amount of public transport demand either. It's just like a large concert would be, and those happen all the time.

 

[Agent_Squash]

No? Why would they.

It's not really an enormous amount of public transport demand either. It's just like a large concert would be, and those happen all the time.

It was more a sarcastic comment about how it’ll look a bit ridiculous to our European counterparts when a 156 turns up to take them back down to the airport! (And then the shuttle bus over, of course…)

Wondering if Avanti will be able to put on a service by then as well. The Eurostar option should be viable for attendees around Benelux / France.

 

[Mikey C]

Total nonsense. The European Broadcasting Union approached the BBC as the UK came second, as per the laid down process. The BBC has stepped in to host without a UK win on four previous occasions, so the UK really has done it’s part to keep Eurovision going over the years, despite the cost.

And in a normal year the UK entry would have won anyway, the votes for Ukraine were (entirely understandably) heavily boosted by people supporting Ukraine, rather than the song.

 

[BenS123]

Apparently it was always meant for one of the 'Big Five' countries which includes the UK as well.

 

[Bald Rick]

I was wondering how the railways would cope with this scale of event, and hopefully Avanti can improve their service significantly before/for the event

The Liverpool Arena has a capacity for 11,000 people at most.

The Liverpool transport system deals with events that have 4-6 times that many people about 50 times a year.

it’s not an issue!

 

[IanXC]

The Liverpool Arena has a capacity for 11,000 people at most.

The Liverpool transport system deals with events that have 4-6 times that many people about 50 times a year.

it’s not an issue!

Don't forget the Eurovision Village will probably have a capacity of at least as many as are able to be in the M&S Bank Arena, and plenty of people who will be circulating in the city centre. So yes still less than some events that Liverpool deals with but not such a low proportion as 4-6 times suggests.

The issue will be the finish time of the shows each night, which really just leaves last trains, and maybe not even that after the final. I'd think there'd be a good case for services to run later (especially later in the week) departures about an hour after the usual times would cover it really (Radio One's Big Weekend warrants extra services like this from time to time!).

Given the number of people who will be staying in hotels etc (just take a look at availability) there will be a good number of people who need to get back to outlying towns and to Manchester. The difference being I suppose that Liverpool's largest usual events typically attract residents rather than visitors.

 

[AGH]

It's not the show that will be the issue it's all the other parties and people heading into the city. A normal service won't be enough. Even accounting for every hotel in the city being booked already anyone now will stay in the surrounding area and travel in. Satellite towns such as Southport and Warrington will need services after the show ends

 

[A0]

Liverpool beats Glasgow to be Eurovision Song Contest host city​

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/entertainment-arts-63175494

I was wondering how the railways would cope with this scale of event, and hopefully Avanti can improve their service significantly before/for the event

It's really not that bigger event - the studio audience isn't going to be huge, no bigger than either Liverpool or Everton playing at home.

 

[Mikey C]

Yes it's a lower number than Eurovision, but worth noting that Liverpool matches attract plenty of tourists, it's not as if all their fans walk/bus in from Bootle or Toxteth.

 

[317 forever]

Just as usage of trains took precedence over local buses during the Olympic Games in London 10 years ago, so I reckon usage of planes and taxis will take precedence over trains (and buses) during Eurovision. Some countries may arrange coaches from native cities right through to Liverpool too.

 

[Vespa]

As soon as the result was announced, hotel bookings went through the roof, customers who have made long standing bookings have had their rooms cancelled for suprioys reasons such as "card problems", "booking issues" or "terms and conditions"etc all of which is blatant lies, their rooms got relisted at 4x the original price, this tarnishes Liverpool hotel reputation with lots of angry people being put out, transport infrastructure can cope as long as it's not sustained, if too many use the train all at the same time we will have issues.


I'm lucky to live only 10 miles on a main line to Liverpool I would still expect some impact on public transport.

 

[Brubulus]

Will there be any late night trains down to places like crewe at the very end of the day? Trains on the line to crewe seem to end very early on saturday nights?

 

[317 forever]

As soon as the result was announced, hotel bookings went through the roof, customers who have made long standing bookings have had their rooms cancelled for suprioys reasons such as "card problems", "booking issues" or "terms and conditions"etc all of which is blatant lies, their rooms got relisted at 4x the original price, this tarnishes Liverpool hotel reputation with lots of angry people being put out, transport infrastructure can cope as long as it's not sustained, if too many use the train all at the same time we will have issues.


I'm lucky to live only 10 miles on a main line to Liverpool I would still expect some impact on public transport.

It is terrible that people with pre-booked nights at hotels are being turfed out like that.

As it is, the Eurovision Song Contest has been held in this country before, including in Brighton in 1974, Harrogate in 1982 and Birmingham in 1998.

So, Liverpool can draw on their experience and potentially prepare accordingly.

 

[Bantamzen]

The Liverpool Arena has a capacity for 11,000 people at most.

The Liverpool transport system deals with events that have 4-6 times that many people about 50 times a year.

it’s not an issue!

Indeed, with two big Premier League clubs and a very popular racecourse, I think Liverpool will be able to cope with a few thousand people for a singing contest.

 

[Djgr]

Indeed, with two big Premier League clubs and a very popular racecourse, I think Liverpool will be able to cope with a few thousand people for a singing contest.

Indeed. And the Open is at the Royal Liverpool again a few months later. It is worth pointing out that it is hard to get a room in Liverpool ANY Saturday night!

 

[Vespa]

Indeed. And the Open is at the Royal Liverpool again a few months later. It is worth pointing out that it is hard to get a room in Liverpool ANY Saturday night!

Naturally of course, I avoid booking weekends if I can, that said racking the prices up to £2000+ a night is taking the Mickey.

 

[Mike395]

The main issue is going to be the Friday/Saturday nights due to the later finish, like others I agree the normal last trains will be fine for every other evening that week. Industrial action aside, I'll be amazed if there aren't a couple of extra late TPE or Northern services serving Manchester via Warrington plus an extension of Merseyrail later into the evening for those two evenings.

 

[Vespa]

The only alternative if you can't afford a hotel in Liverpool and trains not running late, is to travel in from say Manchester or Birmingham fast train, go to the event and stay up until the morning to catch the first train back and sleep.

 

[317 forever]

Talking of Eurovision and railways ....

I hope that by Eurovision Day on May 13th, we will have in service the 197s on Liverpool - Chester services, the 230s in the Wirral and the 777s at least on the Kirkby line, but preferably to Bidston by then.

The 230s would appear to be the least promising.

 

[Llandudno]

Talking of Eurovision and railways ....

I hope that by Eurovision Day on May 13th, we will have in service the 197s on Liverpool - Chester services, the 230s in the Wirral and the 777s at least on the Kirkby line, but preferably to Bidston by then.

The 230s would appear to be the least promising.

You do wonder how much money has been squandered so far on the 230 project for Wrexham-Bidston then add in all the driver and guard training runs which has caused staffing issues in covering the regular TfW timetable!