Rylan, Graham Norton and Julia Sanina take over Merseyrail trains for Eurovision 2023

Eurovision Song Contest hosts Graham Norton and Julia Sanina along with commentator Rylan have become train announcers to deliver a special Eurovision welcome to passengers arriving in the Liverpool City Region.

The trio, who will be part of the BBC’s coverage airing next week, have recorded messages that will be played across the Merseyrail network from Fridy (May 5). Graham, Julia and Rylan greet passengers in English, French and Ukrainian before welcoming them to host city Liverpool.

The announcements end with the words ‘let the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 begin!’ There will be a 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 new £500m publicly owned trains wrapped in Eurovision branding. The star replied to the request with: ‘Are you mad. YES’.

Public transport makeover: Merseyrail stations have also been dressed in Eurovision colours, along with the new trains, hydrogen buses, bus stations and the world-famous Mersey Ferries.

Additional public transport: Late-night public transport services for Eurovision have been announced to help fans and locals get home from the party safely, with additional services on May 7 and May 13.