"It’ll be a story of rows and over-runs; of money and mayhem; of a government with an inflexible deadline, limitless funds and the reputation of the country on the line being held hostage by a construction industry notorious for delays and inefficiency. This is the story of a city which has just pulled the plug on a £1 billion new hospital after eight years of planning because it was too complicated and now has to build, in seven years, an entire micro city with an 80,000-seat stadium, four other arenas, aquatics and hockey centres, a velodrome, a village sleeping 17,320 people, and new and upgraded trains and lines to get everybody there. (A 140mph “Olympic javelin” shuttle will move 25,000 spectators an hour from St Pancras in Central London to the Olympic Park? How? Where is it?) You will not be able to move for cranes and dust and thundering lorries. And God help anyone needing a builder or an electrician in South East England in the next seven years. I wonder how many large construction projects in the pipeline will bite the dust because of this. "
And don't think Scotland will escape! Given the shortage of rail engineering capacity in the UK and the priority which will naturally be given to London, don't expect to see rail developments in Scotland (such as the city centre to airport links) delivered on time.
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