Celebrities from across the Liverpool City Region could be asked to give Merseyrail trains a new sound. Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram told a BBC radio phone-in that his officials were looking actively to rope in famous faces to deliver a more local sound to Merseyrail services.
Eurovision precedent
Back in 2023, as thousands of people descended on Liverpool for the Eurovision Song Contest, famous faces were drafted in to deliver announcements on services across the rail network. Graham Norton and Rylan were piped in on trains as music lovers made their way in and out of the city centre for the extravaganza on the Pier Head and beyond.
During Eurovision, chat show host Norton and former X-Factor contestant Rylan – who were part of the BBC coverage of the song contest held in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine – laid down tracks that were played across the network. Their voices were joined by Ukrainian singer and co-host Julia Sanina to greet passengers in English, French and Ukrainian before welcoming them to the host city.
New plan being drawn up
Speaking on Radio Merseyside yesterday, Mr Rotheram said a new plan was being drawn up similar to that of the Eurovision announcers. He said: “I can’t tell you whom but we want some people who perhaps are well known individuals, celebrities in the Liverpool City Region, and we’d like them to do a bit like we had during Eurovision and we had Graham Norton who said ‘you’re coming to Aintree’ so we’re looking actively at whether we can do this and encourage people to be able to voice some of those routes.”
Mr Rotheram remained tight-lipped on who may be asked to get behind the mic. Asked if Johnny Vegas might be an option to announce services in to St Helens moving forward, Mr Rotheram said he would be “great” but cited how Merseyrail trains were yet to expand into the town and Northern currently provide the franchise.
Past announcements
The Eurovision announcements urged passengers not to be a “diva” and to ask for “a little help” from a friendly member of staff if needed. The announcements ended with the words “let the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 begin.” There were also separate messages for each city centre station – with instructions to alight for key Eurovision venues.
Rylan was asked to record the announcements after “loving” a social media post showing one of the city region’s £500m publicly owned trains wrapped in Eurovision branding. The star replied to the request with: “Are you mad. YES.”
