Metro to Start Escalator Replacement at Pentagon Station
Project is slated to be complete by the fall.
A major escalator replacement project starts Monday at Pentagon Station.
On Feb. 4, Metro will begin the project of demolishing the three existing southside escalators — those on the left as people exit the station — and replacing them with "new, more reliable" units, according to a news release from WMATA.
The work is expected to last until the fall.
Metro customers can continue to use the three northside escalators during construction. The station's elevator will also be available.
The existing escalators rise 42 feet and were installed 18 years ago, according to Metro. Aside from decreased reliability, they are the last in the WMATA system made by a British company that has long since gotten out of the escalator business — making maintenance more difficult.
The replacements are part of WMATA's Metro Forward rebuilding program. They are not part of a contract announced last week to replace 128 additional escalators across the system.
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Gary M Sullivan
7:08 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
Actually, the British company did not go out of business.They were purchased by KONE, a Finnish manufacturer of escalators
LMLF
10:57 am on Monday, February 4, 2013
Can someone float it up to Metro that they should stop fixing escalators and start replacing some of them with stairs instead? One escalator for a short trip up and down should do the trick. Replace the other 4-5 with stairs. Stairs move people faster than escalators and don't break down. However, for distances longer than a normal flight of stairs, I completely support the escalators (Rosslyn, Dupont, etc).