Train runs on time for 3-year London Olympic countdown

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-03 11:11

LONDON: With three years to go until the opening ceremony, organizers of the 2012 London Olympics passed an important test Monday: The train ran on time.

The weather was less cooperative: It rained.

The high-speed "Javelin" train carried organizers, athletes and media from St. Pancras International station in central London to the Olympic Park in 6 minutes, 45 seconds -- even faster than the 7-minute target.

Train runs on time for 3-year London Olympic countdown

London Mayor Boris Johnson stands in front of a Javelin train after arriving at Stratford station for an Olympic site visit, east London. The Olympic Javelin is a high speed train service planned for the 2012 Summer Games. [Agencies]

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said the three-mile journey "bodes very well indeed" for 2012, when the train service is expected to transport up to 25,000 visitors per hour to and from the Olympic complex in the Stratford area of east London.

"Ninety-seven percent of people who come to the Olympic Park will travel by public transport," Jowell said. "These will be the public transport games."

The train runs on a 140 mph line along the same route used by Eurostar trains from London to Paris and Brussels. Spectators arriving at the Stratford station will walk over a bridge into the park, where a run-down area is being turned into the showpiece complex of 2012.

"What we have just seen is a very, very clear demonstration of the incredible efficiency of our transport system," London Mayor Boris Johnson said. "This is something coming on stream before the Olympic Games even begin."

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said the Olympics are on time and ahead of schedule in some cases, as well as on budget. Keeping the momentum going for the next three years is his biggest challenge.

"Everybody wakes up every morning focused on delivering a fantastic games to time and within budget," Coe said. "That's why we get up in the morning."

A handout image from the Olympic Delivery Authority shows an aerial view of the construction site for the venue of the 2012 Olympic Games in London July 27, 2009. Stadium workers outlined a giant number three to mark three years to go until the 2012 Olympic Games. [Agencies]

The British government's overall budget for the games is 9.325 billion pounds ($15 billion). Because of a shortage of private financing due to the recession, the government had to dip into its 2 billion contingency fund to pay for the athletes' village and media center projects, but officials say 1.272 billion pounds of reserve funds remain.

Coe said organizers have already raised 530 million pounds from domestic sponsors -- more than any previous host city -- and are on their way to meeting an overall target of 680 million pounds.

Coe, other organizers, dignitaries and athletes -- including 15-year-old Tom Daley, Britain's newly crowned world champion diver -- toured the park site by buses, getting a firsthand look at what officials say is the biggest construction project in Europe.

Work is progressing on all the main venues in the park, including the Olympic Stadium, aquatics center, velodrome, media center and athletes' village. Most striking so far is the main 80,000-capacity stadium, whose external structure is already completed. The wave-shaped roof structure on the aquatics center is more than halfway finished.

About 4,000 construction workers are employed at the bustling site, which is peppered with cranes, trucks, bulldozers and other equipment.

The train journey and bus tour took place under light showers -- not unusual for London but a possible worry for games-time in 2012.

Johnson, the mayor known for his bombastic style, was unperturbed.

"It is not raining in London 94 percent of the time," he said, repeating the line three times. "We have exactly the same climatic conditions as Paris. Rumors of our wetness are grossly exaggerated."

Jowell, the Olympics Minister, said British spectators won't be bothered by rain drops.

"In the unlikely event that at some point it rains during the Olympics, people are used to pulling on raincoats to watch sport in this country," she said.

The Olympic Stadium -- which will host the opening and closing ceremonies and track and field competition -- has a partial roof covering 40 percent of the seating area.

"This Olympic stadium will have more coverage in terms of roofing capacity that the last three Olympic Games," Coe said. "I'm extremely happy that is exactly where we should be."

Questions remain over the post-games use of the stadium, which is designed to be downsized after 2012 to a 25,000-capacity arena for track and field and other events. Organizers say they are determined not to leave any "white elephants."

But Baroness Margaret Ford, head of a new 2012 legacy agency, has suggested the stadium could remain as it is, especially if England wins its bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

"We've always made it clear that we want a track and field legacy, but not uniquely," Coe said. "There are other things that at this stage are being looked at."

Also still to be finalized are the venues for shooting and boxing.

"The objective is to try to avoid building new venues or temporary venues," organizing committee chief executive Paul Deighton said, adding that decisions will be made by the end of the year.