People travelling to Liverpool by train from York for the Eurovision Song Contest are being urged to prepare for disruption due to planned strike action.
Members of the train drivers’ union ASLEF and RMT are to walk out next week on Friday, May 12, and Saturday, May 13, in the ongoing dispute over pay.
The strikes are due to cause disruption for rail customers, including those travelling to Liverpool for the final of the Eurovision Song contest on May 13.
Rail operator TransPennine Express (TPE), which runs services between York and Liverpool, has warned that there will be no services at all running the day before the final (May 12) and services on the day will be “significantly reduced” to just one train per hour.
They have called on customers travelling to the Eurovision Song Contest to “be prepared for timetable changes”.
'This next week should be a time of celebration'
Kathryn O’Brien, operations and customer experience director at TPE, 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.”
She said that TPE will do “all we can to help make the event a success” but admitted that the strikes will have a “significant impact” on the operator’s ability to run services to and from Liverpool.
The director added that there will be TPE staff on hand across the network over the coming week to provide help and advice to customers.
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Elsewhere, Northern, which runs services between York and Leeds, has announced that all services during the strike on May 12 have been cancelled, and just one train will run per hour on key routes on May 13.
Whilst there is no strike action on May 14, disruption is still expected as services will start later in the morning due to overnight walkouts.
Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said it was “disappointing to see the return of industrial action to the rail network”.
She said: “Given the context in which the UK is hosting (the Eurovision Song Contest) - on behalf of the people of Ukraine - this is particularly unfortunate.”
'members are not prepared to accept a pay offer based on mass job cuts and major attacks on terms and conditions'
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the overwhelming backing for further strike action across 14 train operating companies was a “de-facto referendum” on the dispute.
“It is clear from these results that members are not prepared to accept a pay offer based on mass job cuts and major attacks on their terms and conditions.”
Further ASLEF action - including working to rule, go slows, overtime bans or callout bans - will take place for five consecutive days from May 15 to 20.
On those dates, Northern has advised customers to check before they travel as early-morning and late-night services may be affected.
Further walkouts are also planned for May 31 and June 3 on which there will be no Northern services.
For more information on the strikes, visit Network Rail’s website.
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