Walkway lights the way to the Olympic Park

Spectators arriving at West Ham station during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will light the way to the Olympic Park through their footsteps.

The Walkway installed at West Ham Station is a pioneering new walkway, which connects the station to the Greenway walking route. It will be lit round the clock by the footsteps of a million spectators.

Commissioned by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the 12 energy harvesting floor tiles are expected to receive more than 12 million impressions, generating 72 million joules of energy – enough to power a small electric car for 397 laps of the Olympic athletics track or charge 10,000 mobile phones for an hour.

ODA Transport Director, Hugh Sumner said: “The widespread use of energy-efficient technology is one of the main features of London 2012. This foot-powered lighting system for one of the main walkways into the Olympic Park is just one of the many sustainable initiatives the ODA have deployed during the Games and will really get people thinking about how an individual can make a difference, while getting to and from their events.”