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Better places on the rail network for the Olympics

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NLC1072

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Just thought about this from the GEML threads... not only have the plonked a new Westfields shopping centre on the GEML, but also the Olympics and the GEML and Jubilee/Central lines are pretty much up to capacity as it stands and the GEML certainly can't have any more work done on it to increase capacity further already with 12 coach trains and the highest frequency of services that are possible IMHO.

Where else should the Olympics of been held rather than Stratford? Any better places that people can think of?

NLC1072
 
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Oswyntail

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The Olympics, as well as the "National Football Stadium", should have been built in Derby! Good transport links to just about the whole UK, and reasonable journey times. Plenty of spare land, and a part of the country in need of regeneration. Within easy travelling distance of all major tourist destinations for the visitors.
 

swt_passenger

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The Olympics, as well as the "National Football Stadium", should have been built in Derby! Good transport links to just about the whole UK, and reasonable journey times. Plenty of spare land, and a part of the country in need of regeneration. Within easy travelling distance of all major tourist destinations for the visitors.

They could have built everything on the Bombardier site. Siemens could have provided all the additional rolling stock to get there.
 

DaveNewcastle

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Where else should the Olympics of been held rather than Stratford? Any better places that people can think of?
Athens.

I wish the Olympics was always held there, its home, and avoided all the rushed construction jobs in cities around the globe for a very brief event, and whose legacy generally fails to justify the investment.
 

jon0844

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Or Olympia (and I don't mean the exhibition hall!)

Probably not the best transport infrastructure though!

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk
 

Mutant Lemming

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Derby has difficulty coping with County-Forest games and would require a similar sun being spent in East London to bring it's infrastructure and transport links up to scratch. Connections to other major UK cities are interminably slow consdiering the distances involved, with airport links consisting of a bus to NEMA or involving changing trains to any other airport. Also the council tax payers of Derby woud be footing the bill between now and when the sun flares up and incinerates the planet.
The Olympics are a grand idea as long as you aren't the one picking up the bill for them. Only venues with plenty of money to burn should be likely candidates.
 

GB

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Just thought about this from the GEML threads... not only have the plonked a new Westfields shopping centre on the GEML, but also the Olympics and the GEML and Jubilee/Central lines are pretty much up to capacity as it stands and the GEML certainly can't have any more work done on it to increase capacity further already with 12 coach trains and the highest frequency of services that are possible IMHO.

Where else should the Olympics of been held rather than Stratford? Any better places that people can think of?

NLC1072

Pathing along the GEML will be freed up as 95% of the current freights will be re routed via Peterborough.
 

O L Leigh

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Plus there are capacity enhancements going in on the WA approaches to the station from the Temple Mills direction.

Besides we're not yet making full use of the existing infrastructure on that side as it is. We could easily operate a much higher frequency of service just by sending them straight on, down the Channelsea Curve and back towards Tottenham Hale via the High Meads loop.

O L Leigh
 

dk1

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Just thought about this from the GEML threads... not only have the plonked a new Westfields shopping centre on the GEML, but also the Olympics and the GEML and Jubilee/Central lines are pretty much up to capacity as it stands and the GEML certainly can't have any more work done on it to increase capacity further already with 12 coach trains and the highest frequency of services that are possible IMHO.

Where else should the Olympics of been held rather than Stratford? Any better places that people can think of?

NLC1072

Stratford had it all. A huge amount of derelict (ex-Railway) land, the need for investment in a deprived area & not to forget the fantastic interchange now possible at Stratford Regional & the High Speed link from Kent & the Javelin 7minute shuttles from St.Pancras.

Oh & Westfield Stratford City would most likely have never been considered without the massive building proggramme associated with the Olympic Park.
 

coupwotcoup

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Can't disagree with that. Was the best possible London venue available...and it's only 25 minutes from my house to the Stadium
 

lancastrian

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Just thought about this from the GEML threads... not only have the plonked a new Westfields shopping centre on the GEML, but also the Olympics and the GEML and Jubilee/Central lines are pretty much up to capacity as it stands and the GEML certainly can't have any more work done on it to increase capacity further already with 12 coach trains and the highest frequency of services that are possible IMHO.

Where else should the Olympics of been held rather than Stratford? Any better places that people can think of?

NLC1072

Personally I would have liked the Olympics to have come to Manchester. The rational for this is if they had been awarded to Manchester, the Government would have stoped messing about and not only would have the North West Lines have been electrified much sooner, a lot of work converning the 'Northern Hub' would also have been completed by now and paid for. London always seems to get the investement, Having the Olympics in Manchester would have meant the North West (and the rest of the North) had got the investment they should have had years ago.
 

VTPreston_Tez

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I would have liked to see more events away from London, maybe gymnastics at the MEN? On a less joking side, maybe at the cricket ground (capacity was massive for Bon Jovi and people can get up close to the stars, that would be popular) Maybe trampoling at the G-MEX or something like that? (I've never been, someone elaborate?) Also they would tie in nicely with the Preston Guild by having an event on the WCML, sparking a new Barton/Garstang station which would be good after the Olympics too, and give P&D even more pozazz for the Guild and the recognition of the UK's newest city.
 

MidnightFlyer

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Preston won't be the UK's newest city by the time of the Olympics, there's a new one being 'appointed' in spring / summer in connection with Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee ;)
 

Eagle

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I would have liked to see more events away from London...

The Olympics are allocated to a city, not a country. It's London 2012, not UK 2012. The only time where there is an event outside of London is because either there are no suitable facilities (e.g. sailing, there's no harbour in London) or there have to be several large venues in use at the same time for the same sport (e.g. football, there aren't enough large stadia in London).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Preston won't be the UK's newest city by the time of the Olympics, there's a new one being 'appointed' in spring / summer in connection with Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee ;)

Even now it's only joint newest along with Newport, Lisburn, Stirling and Newry ;)
 
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lancastrian

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I would have liked to see more events away from London, maybe gymnastics at the MEN? On a less joking side, maybe at the cricket ground (capacity was massive for Bon Jovi and people can get up close to the stars, that would be popular) Maybe trampoling at the G-MEX or something like that? (I've never been, someone elaborate?) Also they would tie in nicely with the Preston Guild by having an event on the WCML, sparking a new Barton/Garstang station which would be good after the Olympics too, and give P&D even more pozazz for the Guild and the recognition of the UK's newest city.

Hi there. Interesting picture you have of the Preston Bus Station. When I was growing up in Preston, I often used the old Tithebarn Street Ribble Bus Station as well as from time to time the Old Fishwick one opposite the old Public Hall.

To have had a couple of Olympic events in Preston to support the Preston Guild week would have been great to have seen there. If the Olympics had gone to Manchester, then having some events in Preston would not have been a major problem. Perhaps they could have held the regata in the old Albert Edward Dock.
 

coupwotcoup

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I am with the Eagle on this one, mostly. It is the London Olympics.
Where any of the Barca events held in Madrid/Malaga/Sevilla?
As for the football thing, despite there being enough stadia in and around London to cope with all games, some are being staged in Scotland and Wales.
The timing is probably not good in respect of re-seeding pitches etc, but for most of the matches, I doubt if there will be much interest, especially as some tickets cost £120 (people friendly my arse) and North Korea v Niue would hardly sell out at £10 a throw.
At the end of the day, the Olympic crowds will be no different to a normal football Saturday in town, if you add Premiership to the Football League, only for 20 continuous days.
 

Clip

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Cant believe some of the reccomendations people have put forward.. Derby? You must be having a laugh or on drugs.

The facts are is that nowhere has the internal infrastructure already in place to cart around very high volumes of people like london does - yes its all a focus on stratford but the beauty of it is how much actually goes there now from all round the city so people can spread out more and find cheaper accomodation rather then all hunkered round one part of the city. No where else can support this and the money on try ing to provide the infrastructure would be a wste as it wouldnt be used once the games are over.
 

Bevan Price

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Athens.

I wish the Olympics was always held there, its home, and avoided all the rushed construction jobs in cities around the globe for a very brief event, and whose legacy generally fails to justify the investment.

With all the competitors in historically correct dress for the Olympics ? (Birthday suits)
 

Cherry_Picker

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I am with the Eagle on this one, mostly. It is the London Olympics.
Where any of the Barca events held in Madrid/Malaga/Sevilla?

Exactly. I am really looking forward to the Olympics, I think it will be a great summer with that and the Euros (even though I dont expect much from England in the football) but what I wont miss is a bunch of people from crappy industrial towns complaining that a two or three hour trip to London is "too far" and that it would be far better if the men's 100m finals were staged in the car park of the Filey Liberal Club purely because it is round the corner from where they live.

Like it or not, London is one of the greatest cities in the world, and the world is excited about coming to visit it. Geographically it is quite a long way south, but if you take population density into account then it is much more central. I'd wager that millions more people live within an hour of London than any other city in the UK.
 

transmanche

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Geographically it is quite a long way south, but if you take population density into account then it is much more central. I'd wager that millions more people live within an hour of London than any other city in the UK.
Indeed. And for longer distances, London is often easier to reach than Derby - e.g. from Edinburgh, it takes about the same time to reach London and Derby.

Plus virtually all international visitors are going to prefer London over Derby.
 

Oswyntail

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...
Plus virtually all international visitors are going to prefer London over Derby.
As would anyone in their right mind ;) . But, taking the UK as a whole, somewhere in the Derby area is more convenient than London, and we could start marketing the UK's other attractions. Of all the international major cities I have visited, London is the sleaziest dump, run by rip-off merchants with exorbitant prices. I am ashamed that that will be the chief memory of our beautiful country taken away by visitors.
 

transmanche

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But, taking the UK as a whole, somewhere in the Derby area is more convenient than London
Really? I already posted that travelling Edinburgh-London typically takes about the same time as Edinburgh-Derby (within 5-10 mins).
:
Here are some typical journey time differences

  • Cardiff (and anywhere west ) - faster to London by 30-40 mins
  • Bristol (and anywhere south & west) - faster to London by 20-30 mins
  • Preston (and anywhere north] - faster to London by 30 mins
  • Liverpool - faster to London by 10 mins
  • Norwich - faster to London by 1hr 20mins
  • Rugby - faster to London by 5 mins
  • Peterborough - faster to London by 30-60 mins
  • Hull - faster to Derby by up to 30 mins
  • Manchester - faster to Derby by 30 mins
  • Birmingham - faster to Derby by 50 mins
  • Newcastle - faster to Derby by 10-40 mins
Plus anywhere south of London and many other places in the region) will naturally be faster to London.

I'd say that for the vast majority of the UK, London is easier to get to than Derby.
 
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