London Press Service
Informs
LONDON OLYMPICS WILL HAVE
"BEST-EVER" TRANSPORT
When the spectacular 2012 Olympic Games take place in London, its confident organisers say that “its air, road and rail networks will deliver the best-ever Games transport system”.
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is planning that public transport will be geared to meeting the needs of the Olympic and Paralympic Games while keeping London and the rest of the UK moving efficiently. The ODA is the public body responsible for ensuring delivery of the new venues and infrastructure for the Games and the legacy that will follow.
“The expected 500,000 daily spectators will be encouraged to travel by public transport, or by walking or cycling, with those travelling to London by car using park-and-ride schemes,” said an ODA spokesperson.
“The new jewel in the crown of the transport system will be the Javelin, the high-speed shuttle that will provide a seven-minute link between central London and the Olympic Park.”
The service will use the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), expected to open in 2007 with a landmark station at Stratford, east London, just a few hundred metres from the Olympic Park that will also be served by nine other existing train and Underground rail lines.
At Games time, a train will arrive on average every 15 seconds, allowing up to 240,000 passengers an hour to reach the Park quickly and efficiently. Even at its peak, London’s public transport system will be dealing with an additional demand that is small compared with the 12 million journeys it handles every day. In fact, there will be a 20 per cent drop in demand because of summer holidays, and the Games’ demand will only add five per cent.
The 2012 Olympics organisers have announced that the event will be a “public transport Games” with no car-parking facilities at the main site in Stratford.
At the unveiling of the Olympic Transport Plan, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell predicted that 80 per cent of visitors to the Games will travel by train, a further 15 per cent will arrive by coach from park-and-ride sites and the rest will walk or cycle.
Mrs. Jowell was speaking in Stratford where a life-sized model of the Javelin train was put on show. It can reach speeds of 225 kilometres (140 miles) an hour and will be at the heart of the Olympic transport plan.
The Javelin will go into passenger service in 2009 and will take Olympic spectators from central London to the Olympic site in seven minutes. Javelin will also transport passengers from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link station at Ebbsfleet in north Kent to Stratford, east London, in 10 minutes.
More than 55,000 athletes, officials and media staff, 500,000 spectators and 120,000 staff and volunteers will require to get to the Games each day and the transport plan has been designed to ensure trains leave every quarter-minute.
Fast track: when the 2012 Olympic Games take place in London, the “jewel in the crown” of the transport system will be the Javelin, the high-speed shuttle. It will provide a seven-minute link between the capital’s centre and the Olympic Park at Stratford, east London.
Former Olympic athlete Lord (Sebastian) Coe, the London Organising Committee chairman, said: “We will keep London moving during the Games for everyone – for athletes, spectators and the general public. I want to see athletes competing, not commuting, and spectators watching, not waiting. This transport plan is the first step to making this vision a reality.”
London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone added: “The Olympic Transport Plan is central to the success of the 2012 Games and shows our commitment to making them the most sustainable Games ever. With more than 17bn pounds being spent on improving London’s transport system over the next five years, the 2012 Games is set to deliver a lasting legacy for all Londoners, and improve the quality of life in some of the most deprived areas of the city.”
The capital’s transport is undergoing a period of huge investment and improvement. The organisers promise to deliver lasting improvements that meet not just the demands of the Games but also the long-term needs of London and the UK.
A new extension to the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to London City Airport is open, with another to Woolwich under way. More than four billion pounds of improvements are under way across the Underground rail network and the East London Line extension is also under construction.
Following the lead of the DLR and London’s black taxis, all of London’s 8,000 buses are now wheelchair accessible and by 2010, 25 per cent of all Tube stations will provide step-free access to platform level.
The Olympic Delivery Authority is just one of many organisations working to deliver a successful Games and legacy. The key partners include Transport for London, the London Development Agency and other regional development agencies, the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, local authorities and many other public agencies, as well as the companies that will contract with the ODA to design, build, commission and convert venues and infrastructure.
The ODA is also working with government and London’s mayor to ensure that benefits for London and the UK can be maximised, from increased sports participation, to employment opportunities, to the chance to develop new environmental technologies.
Looking forward to the Games, Lord Coe said: “London has the skill, vibrancy and history to stage a great Games.”
Decathlon athlete Daley Thompson added: “I can’t think of anything better than having London host the 2012 Games. I believe it will be the best Olympics ever seen because we love sport like no other nation. And the greatest thing to come out of the Olympics will be the many generations of healthy children.”
Broadcaster and actress Joanna Lumley said: “Anything that helps young people become more involved in the arts, culture, sport and the spirit of personal achievement excites me. The Olympics isn’t only a sporting feast – it’s a celebration of culture and creativity too – and that gets my vote.”
By Richard Maino
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