The Olympic Games

The Olympic Javelin service

London's public transport was an element of the bid which was scored poorly in the IOC's initial evaluation, however they felt that if the improvements were delivered in time for the Games then London would cope.^[1] Transport for London (TfL) carried out numerous improvements in preparation for 2012, including the expansion of the London Overground's East London Line, upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway and the North London Line,^[2] and the introduction of a new "Javelin" high-speed rail service,^[3] using the Hitachi Corporation's "bullet" trains.^[4][5][6] In September 2011 it was discovered that the platforms at Stratford International station were not at the right height for the Javelin trains. The platforms were raised with wood, which could be removed after the Games as the platforms were originally designed for Eurostar trains, and it is hoped that Eurostar will stop at the station after 2012.^[7] According to network rail an additional 4,000 train services will run during the Games, with train operators putting on longer trains during the day.^[63]

Olympic rings at St Pancras Station

TfL also propose the construction of a £25 million cable car across the River Thames, the "Thames Gateway Cable Car", to link 2012 Olympics venues.^[9] It will cross the Thames river between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,500 passengers an hour 50 metres in the air. It is designed to cut journey times between the O2 arena and the ExCel exhibition centre – both of which are Olympic locations. The privately-funded system could provide a crossing every 30 seconds.^[10]

The plan is to have 80% of athletes travel less than 20 minutes to their event^[11] and to have 93% of athletes within 30 minutes of their event.^[12] The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour.^[13] In addition the LOCOG planned for 90% of the venues to be served by three or more types of public transport.^[12] Two park-and-ride sites were off the M25 with a combined capacity of 12,000 cars 25 minutes away from the Olympic Park. Another park and ride site was planned in Ebbsfleet which would have capacity for 9,000 cars were spectators could board a 10 minute shuttle bus.^[12] To get spectators to Eton Dorney, four park and ride schemes were set up. Spectators would be dropped off at Windsor Racecourse with a bridge going over the Thames linking the racecourse to the rowing venue.^[14]

A London Underground train decorated to promote London's Olympic bid – this coincided with plans for investment in the city's public transport network

Concerns have been expressed at the logistics of spectators traveling to the events scheduled for outside of London. In particular, the sailing events at Portland are in an area with no direct motorway connection, and with local roads that are heavily congested by existing tourist traffic in the summer.^[15] However the Weymouth area did undergo a major upgrade on its road infrastructure. A £77 million relief road connecting Weymouth to Dorchester was built and opened in 2011.^[16][17] Some £16 million pounds was put aside for the rest of the improvements.^[18] Inaddtion the plans removed 5 roundabouts to ease congestion and replaced them with traffic lights^[19][20] But some residents were unhappy that the roundabouts were removed.^[21]

In January 2010, the South East England regional transport board criticised plans published by the Olympics Development Authority for not providing plans of a credible long term coach network saying "The ODA has been working on an extensive network of coach services... [but] the lack of reference to this work [in the plan] is both intriguing and at the same time concerning." On 15 February 2010, the ODA announced that FirstGroup was the preferred bidder for the provision of bus and coach services for the games. This will involve the provision of venue shuttle and park and ride services, services connecting peripheral park and ride sites on the M25 with the Olympic Park and Ebbsfleet, and a nationwide network of express coaches to the Olympic Park, and the Weymouth and Portland sailing venue. The services will require around 900 vehicles in total, although some will be sub-contracted.^[22][23]

References