Hydrogen buses launched for 10A St Helens to Liverpool service

And they will be draped in Eurovision design as the international contest comes to the region in May.

Metro mayor Steve Rotheram has unveiled trains and buses that will be hitting the region’s roads and rails during the Eurovision Song Contest.

As the eyes of the world turn their attention to the city region, the Mayor has commissioned a new look for the region’s public transport to mark the occasion.

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One of the region’s new publicly owned £500m trains has also been wrapped in Eurovision livery and will appear on the Merseyrail network from this week.

Meanwhile, new zero-emission hydrogen buses will start appearing from draped in Eurovision’s colours. They will initially be used for driver training before entering passenger service in the coming days on the 10A route between St Helens and Liverpool.

Eurovision artwork will also appear at train and bus stations, bus stops, ferry terminals and tunnel entrances with the region set to welcome an estimated 100,000 extra visitors, while the contest itself is expected to attract around 160 million TV viewers.

Metro mayor Steve Rotheram with a Eurovision-designed bus and train (Image: Liverpool City Region)

Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “The chance to host a global spectacle like the Eurovision Song Contest is an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often – especially for a city in the UK – that’s why so many cities bid for the accolade.

“As an international event that attracts guests, media and attention from around the world, we’re expecting thousands upon thousands of visitors to descend on the Liverpool City Region next month for a week-long celebration of music, dance, fun and frivolity.

“We want to use the contest as a chance to showcase what makes our region fantastic – so that visitors and investors alike return time and time again.

“I’m enormously proud of the investments we’ve made to deliver a publicly-owned, public transport network run in the interests of the public. We’ve commissioned these new liveries to celebrate this global spectacular coming to our region – it really is once in a lifetime!”

Eurovision is predicted to be directly worth around £25m to the city region economy when it takes over Liverpool next May and looking at the impact on previous host cities, it could also increase tourism to the city by up to five per cent a year – which equates to over £250m extra revenue by 2026

• People are being advised to plan their journeys during Eurovision. Transport information and advice is now available at www.merseytravel.gov.uk