Olympic Park powerlines project surges ahead

Two 6km tunnels have been dug underneath the Park to carry the power needed for the London 2012 Games and the communities that will live in the area afterwards. These tunnels were completed last year on time and on budget.

More than 200km of electrical cables are now being installed in the tunnels – enough to stretch from London to Nottingham. The installation of cables, as well as monitoring and ventilation equipment, is complete in one of the tunnels, with work also progressing in the second tunnel.

Currently power is carried along overhead cables that run between the 52 pylons that dominate the Park landscape. These pylons will be dismantled once power is switched to the underground cabling later this year.

The progress made keeps the Olympic Delivery Authority on track to achieve one of its ten milestones to Beijing announced last year. The second milestone stated that with the tunnels and cabling complete, the power for the Olympic Park would be set to switch underground by the Beijing 2008 Games.
 
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