Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Could They Have Switched the Escalator's Direction?

This morning as expected the only remaining escalators were running up to the street when the majority of the rush hour traffic was heading down to the platforms. It was a royal pain and I was carrying a 3 year old down all four flights of stairs. My back is not happy.

Upon arriving at work I found a message from RIOC President Steve Shane which included the following information:

"MTA's Alissa Kosowsky, Assistant Director of Government & Community Relations as a follow up to my meeting with them:

"Here is the information on the escalator replacement:

NYC Transit is in the process of replacing eight escalators at the Roosevelt Island F station. This contract was awarded for $15.3 million on September 15, 2005 with a duration of 39 months. The contractor, Skanska Mechanical, is on schedule. As of this time, four escalators are completed. The remaining four escalators - two platform escalators and two street escalators are scheduled for completion by the end of 2008. We appreciate the community's patience as we complete this work.""

My back does not hurt any less. And somebody should tell Ms. Kosowsky that this station has ten escalators. I guess two of them are either not being repaired / replaced or they are just being left alone.

5 comments:

  1. generally, no, an older escalator doesn't like being run in reverse, as the machinery takes a 'set' as wear patterns and stress forces build up. so when run the other direction, the escalator often breaks down, and you then have TWO being worked on and unavailable to even walk on.

    however, that shouldn't be a problem with the NEW escalators...

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  2. In this case ES 411 and ES 414 are the newest escalators in operation from the lower mezzanine up to the street.

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  3. there could be other, hidden, issues: electricity for a large area needs to be off to work safely, knocking out many escalators being the first one that comes to mind.

    but it is also possible that NOTHING is built worth a damn these days, and they are broken already. within 1 week of installation, one of the new elevators began making a horrible honk-screech sort of sound. i can't imagine it was a good sound..............

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  4. oops, 'new ESCaltors.' i wish there were new elevators! although, given the track record so far, i doubt i'd use them until they broke a few times first.

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  5. Repair work? There's another theory floating around & it's seeming more & more acurate - this is actually an escalator repair training school being operated out of the Roosevelt Island subway station.

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