World-class venues and a world-class transport system are essential to the success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. I recently took shadow Transport Minister Stephen Hammond to see our progress in both these areas.

We started off by taking a tour of the Olympic Park and getting a good look at construction on the major venues. The Olympic Stadium has developed so much that you can really imagine the world’s best athletes competing there.

Meanwhile the footprint of the Velodrome, where Great Britain's cyclists will be keen to back up their golden performances from Beijing, can now be seen. To create the shape of the Velodrome bowl, enough material to fill 19 Olympic swimming pools has been excavated.

The footprint of the Velodrome, the venue for Track Cycling, can now be seen.



It is already clear to see what an amazing place the Olympic Park will be – and our job is to make sure that people from all over London can get there!

We are investing heavily to provide better transport in time for the 2012 Games and for the east London community long after.

To get Stratford Regional Station ready to be the main gateway station to the 2012 Games, we are building new platforms, entrances, lifts, subways, as well as creating more space for passengers. This work is due to finish by the end of 2010, bringing benefits long before the main event.

A Central Line train pulls up alongside work on the new westbound Central Line platform at Stratford Station. This new platform will reduce crowding by allowing passengers to get on and off the train from both sides:



Another of our key investments is upgrading London Overground’s North London Line, which we are jointly funding with Transport for London and Network Rail. This funding will provide new tracks and new power and signalling systems, as well as new trains. This will help London Overground to run these trains more frequently. This investment will also go towards new freight-avoiding loops. These loops are used to divert freight trains, which are slower than other services, on to different tracks so they do not delay other trains.

We are also contributing to a range of improvements being carried out by our delivery partners, including new Docklands Light Railway (DLR) cars, stations and branch extensions.

The Games are a catalyst for some £6bn of background investment into transport, benefiting people all over. We have already seen some fantastic transport developments, such as the brilliantly restored St. Pancras International Station in central London. During the Games, passengers will be able to get from this station to the Olympic Park in just seven minutes on the high-speed Javelin® shuttle service.

We are still about three and half years away from the London 2012 Games, but the benefits they will bring – from new venues to better transport – can already be seen.