Javelin trains to Olympic Park disrupted

[John Ashworth]

Javelin trains to Olympic Park disrupted

'Trespass incident' forces hour-long suspension of highspeed service from Ebbsfleet after earlier Central Line closure

Matthew Taylor and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 31 July 2012 13.18 EDT

Services on a key transport route to the Olympic Park were disrupted on Tuesday afternoon after the Javelin high-speed service was suspended between Stratford and Ebbsfleet International.

Spectators leaving the park heading south to pick up cars and coaches at stations in Kent suffered long delays, according to passengers who said there were also hold-ups between St Pancras in central London and the Olympic Park – a claim denied by Southeastern Trains.

London Bridge station was also under pressure after a points failure at nearby Cannon Street shortly before 5pm caused some train services to be terminated or diverted. Amid complaints on Twitter by members of the public, the rail infrastructure company Network Rail advised those waiting for trains at the station to use alternative routes.

But overall London's transport infrastructure appeared to be coping well with the influx of Olympic visitors. "All our systems are green at the moment and things are running well," said a spokesman for Transport for London.

A "trespass incident" forced suspension of the Javelin service between Stratford, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International at about 2pm while police dealt with a "suicidal person" on a bridge over the line. The line was reopened shortly after 3pm.

A spokesman for Southeastern Trains said the incident had no impact on the service between Stratford and the Olympic Park.

Earlier, services on the Central line between Liverpool Street and Woodford/Newbury Park were suspended due to a fire alert.

The suspension was lifted by about 10am, but severe delays continued.

Rail services at Liverpool Street main line station were also affected by a signalling problem on overhead wires between Elsenham and Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex, affecting travellers on services run by the Greater Anglia and CrossCountry train companies.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee for the Olympics was told that underground journeys are up since the Olympics began, while road traffic has dropped, even during rush hours.

The number of tube passengers was up about 30% over the weekend, with 2.44 million travelling on Sunday, compared with 1.9 million on Sunday 15 July, the committee heard.

However, London's public transport system was due to be tested again on Tuesday evening as 70,000 people were due at Wembley for an Olympic football match between England and Brazil women's teams.

TfL said people were heeding advice to avoid the capital if possible. It added thatwhile tube journeys were up 4% on Monday, road journeys in London were down 20%.

London's transport commissioner, Peter Hendy, said: "We are very grateful to customers for following our advice to avoid London Bridge station and for major businesses who are enabling their staff to work flexibly during the Games. Our advice to all users of the transport network continues to be to plan ahead, avoid hotspot areas, and leave plenty of time for your journey."