Sunday the 29th of May will see thousands of people arriving at Liverpool city centre to celebrate Liverpool FC's triumph in the Carabou Cup and FA Cup
Despite losing last night in the Champions League final to Real Madrid, the team players will celebrate with a parade of 13.5km through the city centre and starts at 4pm.
Advice is being given by Network Rail to people travelling by train of a number of issues which could make for challenging journeys into Liverpool city centre this weekend.
TransPennine Express will not be operating any services to or from Lime Street station on Sunday the 29th of May due to ongoing strike action, further to this, rail improvement work on the network will also mean that no East Midlands Train services can serve the city too. Avanti West Coast is expecting trains to be extremely busy and will prioritise passengers with reservations.
Further down the line, Northern is expecting Warrington services to be busy because of the Neighbourhood Weekender festival and has already issued advice to festival-goers about checking the last trains home.
Network Rail's advice for today is:
- Plan your journey, especially how you will get home by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk
- Allow extra time as long queues to access platforms are expected
- Don't rely on later trains home as they will be limited and extremely busy
- Remember Network Rail's motto of ‘Be safe, be patient, be kind' when travelling
Extra staff will be available at Liverpool Lime Street station to support customers travelling this weekend. The station team have been getting ready for the thousands of extra passengers expected with queueing systems put in place to keep passengers safe.
Kyla Thomas, Liverpool Lime Street station manager, said: “While it's great the city will come together in celebration of Liverpool FC's incredible 2021/22 season, we need to let passengers know what to expect if they're thinking of travelling through Lime Street station this weekend.
“Strike action and the sheer volume of people will mean the station will be extremely busy. Please plan ahead and know what train you want to catch there and back before the day of the parade. Secondly, allow more time than you might do usually to get on the train – there will be long queues. And thirdly, please respect each other and our staff while travelling – we want everyone to enjoy the victory celebrations free from any bad behaviour.”
In order to organise crowds through the busiest times, Merseyrail will close some city-centre stations with the following stations closed all day today:
- Lime Street Lower Level
- James Street
- Green Lane
- Bromborough Rake
- Capenhurst
Passengers are urged to book their tickets in advance to avoid the need to queue on the day.
To find the latest passenger advice and information please visit the Merseyrail website.
For full details of the parade route and advice visit Liverpool FC's website.
