The 2012 Olympic Games and transport

London will be a connected and convenient host city for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with:

80 per cent of athletes within 20 minutes of their events
five airports, including Heathrow - the best-connected airport in the world
10 railway lines carrying 240,000 people every hour to the Olympic Park
240 km of dedicated Olympic lanes

London is used to coping with large numbers of people on the move: 20 million journeys are made every day on London’s transport system. The good news for Londoners is that massive improvements will be made to the transport system, making it more efficient and reliable over the next ten years.

As part of an already-committed, long-term spending plan, more than $30 billion will be spent on London’s transportation system prior to 2012. These include:

extension of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in east London - including to London City Airport
50 per cent capacity enhancement across the DLR network
extension of the East London line
refurbishment and modernisation of all London Underground stations
45 per cent increase in capacity on the Jubilee Line, which will serve the main Olympic facilities.

All of the transport improvements planned for the Olympic Games are ones London needs anyway: the Games will simply make sure these things happen faster. In the years after the Games, and in many cases the years before the Games, Londoners will benefit from a range of improvements that are every bit as useful to London’s everyday life as they are to the running of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

Find out more about the London 2012 Olympic Games.