High-speed Olympic 'Javelin' train service launched

Few things in Hackney reach speeds of up to 125mph legitimately. That changed yesterday when Olympic chiefs successfully orchestrated the first trial of a super-express train service linking St Pancras and the Olympic Park in East London.
The target was to reach Stratford International, 5.6 miles (9km) along a purpose-built high-speed track, in less than seven minutes — three years before the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012.
The fear of failure was palpable around the Champagne Bar as athletes including Tom Daley, the newly crowned world champion diver, joined dignitaries and the media for the most high-profile test to date of London’s £9.3 billion Olympic project.
As 2012 officials laughed nervously at the ominous departure point on Platform 13, sceptical reporters boarded the Javelin ready to gloat when the train broke down in time-honoured British fashion.
Reassuringly, the train was built by Hitachi and based on Japan’s shinkansen “bullet trains”, which on average arrive within six seconds of their scheduled time and were a product of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Perhaps less comforting, for those who thought his area of expertise lay in running shoes and not running trains, was the voice of Lord Coe over the public address system. “This train will depart promptly at 09.42,” the double Olympic 1,500 metres champion predicted.
And so it did. Without incident and with no time for a trip to the buffet car, the Javelin scorched through Hackney and came out of a tunnel the other side in Stratford only 6 minutes and 45 seconds later. Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, was triumphant. “We can run trains ahead of schedule,” she said.
“This is going to bring a large number of people to the park and London will be the beneficiary of investment in its transport infrastructure, which is being accelerated by the Olympics.”
During the Games, the Javelin will carry up to 25,000 people an hour to and from the Olympic Park. Spectators will get free use of public transport with their tickets to Olympic events but a separate Javelin pass may be issued to manage crowds. The cost of running 12 shuttles an hour for 17 days of Olympic competition and 11 days of the Paralympics will be taken from the Olympic Delivery Authority’s £900 million transport budget.
Boris Johnson said he that he had clocked the Javelin’s maiden journey at 6 minutes and 10 seconds but anyone who has waited for the Mayor to arrive at an official engagement knows he has a loose concept of time.
Mr Johnson didn’t miss the opportunity to rub salt in French wounds: “I’ve a great deal of sympathy for the French who must be consumed with envy at the rapidity with which we’re bringing this project to birth,” he said.
“The key thing is we’re getting our legacy in advance of the Games. People have yet to get into their heads quite how much is going to be ready before 2012.”
Regular rail passengers are already travelling at speeds of up to 140mph along the £5 billion track built for the Eurostar. Under a pilot service operated by Southeastern Trains, the journey from St Pancras to Ashford takes 37 minutes compared with 1 hour 20 minutes on the main line and it is only 17 minutes to Ebbsfleet.
From December, the first high-speed domestic train service will be fully operational, stopping at Stratford 19 times during peak hours and four times an hour, off peak.
Source:The times