OLYMPICS BID TRANSPORT PLANS: DO THEY ADD UP?

12.00.00am GMT Sat 1st Nov 2003

Lynne Featherstone, Chair of the London Assembly's Transport Policy Committee, has raised concerns about Transport for London (TfL)'s plans for dealing with the needs of an Olympic bid.

The key concerns include:

TfL talks of the need for a "single mode command and control" for all transport modes - rail, Tube, DLR and bus - by the time of the Olympics. But Bob Kiley's call for integrated transport for London has been rejected by both the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and by the train operating companies.

North London Line: TfL talks about upgrading the North London Line to ten trains per hour with six-car trains. But this depends on the SRA's spending review - the line would need a new signalling system to make this new capacity possible - at a time when the SRA is tightening up on spending.

Thames Gateway Bridge: TfL offer this as a benefit to traffic and public transport heading for the Olympic site from south-east London and north Kent. Yet they admit that even with a hybrid Bill procedure they'll be lucky to get to go-ahead by 2010.

Lynne says, "A successful Olympic bid could be great for London. TfL needs to get its act together. I'd like to think all their aspirations are possible. But writing a wish-list of projects that may or may not get funding or be ready by 2012 doesn't amount to a policy."