§ Mr. GillTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many escalators are installed at London Underground stations; how many are out of action; and what is the average length of time taken to bring unserviceable units back into service. [146642]
§ Mr. HillThis is an operational matter for London Underground (LUL) who inform me that the total number of escalators on the network is 403 (plus six at Canary Wharf which are commissioned but not yet in passenger service).
I understand from them that at the 8 January 2001, 26 machines were unavailable for customer service. There are three basic causes for an escalator to be out of service—planned maintenance or replacement, casualty repair and work to rectify any extraordinary safety issues such as top-shaft replacement. Of the 26 out of service, 14 were part of planned maintenance or refurbishment programmes. In most cases where an escalator is out of order there will be a parallel escalator which is in operation to minimise passenger inconvenience and disruption. This generally enables stations to remain open while the works are in progress and at all times safety is the priority.
There is a range of types of escalators, and the mixture of types of work which may be needed on them varies significantly as indicated above. It is therefore difficult to estimate the average length of time taken to bring unserviceable units back into service This is because the snapshots of various moments in time which reflect different escalators affected, and the different types of work involved, may lead to significantly different estimates.