Posted 25th May 2011 | 6 Comments
Special rail fares and standby trains for Olympics
TRAIN services will be boosted next summer during the Olympics, it's been announced. The times of last trains will be later, special fares will be offered to event ticket holders, and standby trains will be available at key points. Both Network Rail and London Underground will suspend all routine engineering work.
Network Rail said the railway industry had worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority to develop the timetable earlier than usual, so that spectators will be able to buy tickets and book seats from late June – more than a year before the opening ceremony.
The 2012 London Olympics will run for 16 days – from Friday 27 July to Sunday 12 August – and the Paralympic Games will occupy 12 days from Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 9 September.
In all more than 2,000 extra trains are planned during the Olympics and more than 1,500 during the Paralympics. The normal morning and evening peak hours will be extended, and there will be a third peak when the Olympic Park or other venues close. This will be handled by strengthening services all day in and around London, and also before and after events in the provinces.
Standby rolling stock will be positioned at some of the London termini, so that reliefs can be provided at short notice.
Many routes will be busier and offer more trains, but one of the key links will be the special Javelin service from St Pancras International to Stratford, which will now be run by Southeastern following its recent franchise extension.
London Overground has also just completed a major upgrade, which has been under way since Transport for London took over its routes in November 2007. The new Overground services, which include eight trains an hour across North London between Willesden Junction and Stratford, will form some of the key rail links to the main Olympic Park.
Last trains will run later on London Underground, although Transport for London has decided that it was not feasible to run a 24-hour service.
Special National Rail fares will be available to Olympics ticket holders too – although discounted, they will not be train-specific, to allow for the possibility of events running late.
David Higgins, the chief executive of Network Rail, said: “The Olympics is about sport, not transport. Our job during Games time is to provide smooth, seamless journeys for spectators travelling to and from Olympic and Paralympic venues, whilst continuing to offer the service which keeps millions of people moving across Britain each day.”
ATOC chief executive Michael Roberts added: “The rail industry is committed to offering fast, flexible, reliable and affordable travel for the millions of spectators expected at Olympic and Paralympic events. As well as being able to book their London 2012 Games train fares up to 12 months in advance – a UK first – spectators will also be able to take advantage of thousands of extra services, earlier starting and later trains to make sure they don’t miss a second of the action.”
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Michael Hustwait, Watford, UNITED KINGDOM
Its good to hear that later running of tube and national trains are being put on for olympics but some consideration should be given to making some the changes permanent as the present situation at stations such as euston for example on saturday nights where last fast train leaves at ridiculously early time of 1215 leaves scores or in some cases more a hundred people hanging around on station till a london overground train leaving at 2am arrives People attending concerts and cultural events have to hang around for almost two hours amongst people leaving pubs and clubs .This gives london a very bad reputation
Michael Hustwait, Watford, UNITED KINDGOM
national franchise trains at present especially on saturday nights are frequently curtailed to ridiculously early times because of engineering work which means that people often attending normal concerts and london cultural events cant get back to national rail stations such as euston kings cross before last fast train north has already left with scores of people having to hang around on for example euston station platform for as long as almost two hours with people coming out of pubs to get on a ridiculously truncated london overground train with not enough seats so any extension of tube and national is welcome.So when these times are extended because of the olympics some consideration needs to be given to making some of the later running times of tube and national rail permanent as the present earlier running gives such a bad image and reputation to stations such as euston after 1215 saturday night which is suffering because of early last fast trains north
Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, England
But will OYSTER be accepted on the Javelin High Speed service as it is still not available on the high speed services.
This surely should be corrected once the DLR starts serving Stratford International even if a preminum fare were to be charged.
Joel Kosminsky, London, Britain
The Olympic Delivery Authority promised in August 2010 that there would be "240,000 seats per hour" for 2012 Games trains at Stratford - an intriguing prospect given that about 40% of seats will be headed in the wrong direction at any one time. Many seats will be occupied by people in daily life, and that total number of seats is impossible. 'Standby trains'? - where will they be stabled and how long to reach Stratford (and where appropriate to reverse first), to assist exiting crowds of up to 100,000? This standard of planning is frightening; I'll be anywhere but an Olympics site, and I'm a local resident....
Lee, Manchester, England
It encouraging to see that the railway companies and the Olympic organisers can work together to ensure the best possible transport links to the Olympic events next year. However, where will the extra trains come from? Will there be a reduction in service frequency/capacity on routes not serving London in order to provide the 'stanby' trains? Seems quite shabby that we can pull out all the stops to ensure spectators can get to Olympic events on reduced fares, yet commuters who pay full fairs the rest of the time get a proposed hike in ticket costs and no increase in services or trqain capacity, despite increasing patronage.
John Kelvin, Oxford
"standby trains will be available at key points". Wow. Any chance that could become a permanent feature, and especially on Friday evenings?