Both ASLEF and RMT have planned strike action next Friday, the 12th and Saturday, the 13th of May, which will cause disruption for passengers across the rail network, especially those travelling to Liverpool for the Eurovision Song Contest.

On Friday, 12th May, ASLEF members plan to strike, resulting in no TransPennine Express services at all that day.

On Saturday, 13th May, the day of the Eurovision Grand Final, RMT members plan to strike which means TransPennine Express will only be able to operate a much-reduced.

To help Eurovision fans get to Liverpool, on Saturday, 13th May TransPennine Express will operate the following services:

• From Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool there will be at least an hourly service between 7.50 am and 6 pm.
• From Huddersfield to Liverpool, there will be at least an hourly service between 8.15 am and 5.20 pm.
• From Preston to Liverpool, there will be five services between 9 am and 5.05 pm.
• From Sheffield to Liverpool, there will be four services between 9 am and 4.10 pm.

Full details of the timetable for Saturday 13 May can be found via the TransPennine Express website at https://www.tpexpress.co.uk or National Rail Enquiries at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Customers with tickets for travel on TransPennine Express services on Friday, 12th or Saturday, 13th of May can delay their journeys and travel up to and including Tuesday, 16th of May. Anyone who decides not to travel can claim a full refund via the TransPennine Express website.

Kathryn O’Brien, Operations and Customer Experience Director at TransPennine Express, said: “This next week should be a time of celebration for Liverpool and the wider North West region, as we have been given a unique opportunity to host the world’s biggest music competition on behalf of those in Ukraine.

“Whilst we will do all we can to help make the event a success, sadly our customers need to be aware that the strike action will have a significant impact on our ability to run services to and from Liverpool.

“On Friday there will be no services at all and on Saturday when we know so many people will want to head into Liverpool to be part of the historic event, we will run all that we can – but even this will be a limited timetable, with no trains out of the city after 7 pm.”

“We will have TPE staff out and about across the network over the coming week and into next weekend to provide help and advice to our customers and we will do all we can to keep people on the move. But we need our customers to plan ahead carefully, consider their travel options and make other arrangements, where necessary, if travelling to and from Eurovision.”