WiFi at Tube stations for Olympics

Tube passengers will have access to free WiFi during the Olympic Games. Platforms at 80 stations will have wireless coverage after Transport for London appointed Virgin Media to provide the service.

Most underground stations will be covered, but the service will only be available at ticket offices, platforms, and on escalators. WiFi will not be available on the trains themselves, as installing it in tunnels would have been prohibitively expensive. TfL hopes it will allow passengers better access to real-time travel information, so they will be able to react faster to disruption. Spreading passengers widely over the network and avoiding bottlenecks at significant hotspots is a crucial part of TfL's plans for the Games.

If people are not persuaded to stay out later, work from home or take more roundabout routes to get to venues, hotspots including London Bridge, Canary Wharf and Bond Street will suffer severe disruption.

Even if all goes according to plan, waiting times of more than half an hour to board the Tube are expected at the busiest stations on the busiest days of the Games.

Transport remains arguably the biggest risk to the successful delivery of the Olympics. About £6.5bn has been spent on improving infrastructure on the Underground in the past 10 years.

London Underground, said: "This is great news for Tube customers, who now have access to emails, Web and social media underground."