Consulting engineer Arup has submitted the first draft of its research into whether London's rail system will be able to cope if the city wins the 2012 Olympic Games
The three-month study, commissioned by the Strategic Rail Authority, looked at ways of increasing the number of trains running to the proposed main stadium site in Stratford, east London. One of the options is believed to be to cut the number of stops made at less busy stations while the games are taking place.

Colin Stewart, director at Arup Transport, said: "The SRA is just one of a number of bodies with input into the Olympic transport plans. We have produced an initial study to look at the enhancement of services into the Olympic zone."

Sources close to Arup said the company had been approached by the SRA in the past two or three weeks to see if it was interested in producing a more detailed second draft. It is not known whether other parties will be invited to submit bids to produce the second report.

Arup's initial findings fed into London's submission to the International Olympic Committee, released this week. It said that a £225m upgrade of Stratford station would be required. It also confirmed that the athletes' village would be a PPP deal.

Nearly £2.4bn of public money has been earmarked for the event. The government is the final guarantor.

Arup’s initial findings for the International Olympic Committee called for a £225m upgrade of Stratford station

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link from King's Cross, due to open in 2006, would cut journey times from central London to Stratford to seven minutes. Eurostar will run from Stratford as well as Waterloo by the time of a London Olympic Games.

Arup was commissioned before Christmas to assess how to use the extra capacity at Waterloo and will report its findings soon.