Olympics bid will fail without CrossRail

Written by Graham Tope and published in North West London Newspaper Group on Thu 22nd May 2003

London has finally entered the Olympic race. The Government at last has stopped dithering and announced it is backing the capital's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

But our chances of hosting the games could be scuppered early on by London's dismal transport network.

Athletes and visitors will need to travel easily across the capital into east London, where the majority of the Olympic development is planned. According to Arup, the British Olympic Association's consultant, this could put the transport system under unprecedented strain. A total of 150,000 spectators would be expected to visit the venues on a peak day, in addition to the thousands of athletes, officials and international media travelling across London throughout the day.

The already overcrowded Central Line certainly couldn't manage such an increase in capacity. Hackney, one of the suggested venues, doesn't even have a Tube line.

CrossRail, the long-proposed project to connect Paddington to Liverpool Street with trains running as far as Stratford, would provide the crucial link between the east and west of the city. Weary commuters have been calling for it for years.

Back in November, the Mayor claimed that bidding to host the Olympics would provide "a real impetus to ensure that planned and confirmed transport improvements – especially the CrossRail project - are all in place by 2012."

Now both the Mayor and the Government have said that the development of CrossRail is separate to successfully bidding for the Olympics. However a Treasury commissioned report, leaked to the media, warns that London would struggle to cope with the increase in passengers without CrossRail and that events would have to be scheduled to start after the rush hour!

We lag behind our main Olympic competition – Paris, Madrid and New York – when it comes to cross-capital transport links. This project is essential to a credible bid.

We already face difficulties in convincing the international Olympic community that we are capable of hosting such a vast international event. England's disastrous bid for the 2006 World Cup, the Wembley fiasco, the failure to build a stadium to stage the 2005 World Athletic Championships and the ongoing saga of the Millennium Dome are still fresh in many people's minds. Unless the transport links are ready in time, the Olympic bid could be yet another embarrassing failure.

But the Government and the Mayor have so far shown a complete inability to sort out our chronic transport problems. Ken Livingstone will have to do much more to pressure the Government into taking an early and positive decision on CrossRail. It is vital to the success of any games and in London's long-term interest.

The Olympics need 21st century transport links – and so do Londoners!