Advice for passengers during Olympics
The road and rail system is extremely busy but seems to be taking thestrain of hundreds of thousands of extra Olympic passengers, reportsTransport Correspondent Mike Pearse.
Last trains out of London were held until as late as 0300 on Saturdaymorning to get passengers back home after the opening ceremony.YOn Saturday and Sunday roads around Olympic venues including Eaton Dorney, Weymouth and Redhill were badly congested but appeared to be coping.
Trains have been much busier than usual, report the train companies .Usually empty car parks on a Sunday at commuter stations like Basingstoke were almost full as tens of thousands of extra people took to the rails.
Monday is the big test as up to one million people going to the Olympics mix with regular commuters.
London Bridge Station will be exceptionally busy with up to 70,000 more people expected to pass through. It will be closed between 6 and 10pm fo rpassengers departing on Southeastern and Thameslink services to Brighton. They are advised to use Blackfriars and Charing Cross. Passengers can expect Southeastern High Speed services from Ebbsfleet and St Pancras to be busy as the special Javelin trains take people to theOlympic park at Stratford
ROWING AT EATON DORNEY: First Great Western will be taking people to the rowing at Eaton Dorney with shuttle buses from Slough and Maidenhead. Some extra services will run. South West Trains will also be taking people to the rowing with shuttlebuses from Eaton and Windsor Riverside.Park and Rides operate from around the area with buses taking people to the games.
BUSY ROADS AT WEYMOUTH: Roads to the sailing at Weymouth will be busy with Park and Rides the way most will travel. South West Trains will operate more services but the line from Bournemouth to Weymouth is single truck so this will be very limited
.BUSY RAILS Elsewhere most SWT services on the Waterloo route will be very crowded with up to 80,000 people due to pass through the station. Southern services from Brighton will be busy into Victoria along withThameslink services to London Bridge. Chiltern services will also see extra passengers on the route from Banburyand Aylesbury. The advice is to leave extra time, book tickets in advance and expect to queue at stations.
EXTRA SERVICES: Ten million extra seats will be provided over the next two weeks in the South. Most trains will have extra carriages. Extra services will run during the early morning. Last evening services will run later: in most cases between 0100 and 0200.