Escalator at railway station remains out of order often

AMRITSAR: Even as an escalator was installed at Amritsar railway station for the convenience of passengers a majority of them complain that it remains out of order most of the time

Updated At : 06:20 AM May 28, 2015 IST

<p>Passengers go up and down the escalator as it is lying non-functional</p>

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 27

Even as an escalator was installed at Amritsar railway station for the convenience of passengers, a majority of them complain that it remains out of order most of the time. Similar is the case with battery-driven cars stationed at the railway station to ferry old, infirm and handicapped passengers.

A vigilant local resident, Ajit Singh, said, instead of the Railways deploying an attendant to monitor the working of the escalator, they prefer to keep it closed. He said most of the time, the battery-driven cars remain locked and they are taken out ahead of the visit of a senior railway official from outside.

Hence, it leaves passengers high and dry and they end up facing sheer inconvenience in transporting their merchandise from one platform to another.

The facility was considered a boon for the elderly and the children who find it tough to climb stairs at the busy railway station. However, the facility proved short-lived as the machine remains out of order most of the time.

A daily passenger, Raminder Pal, said the equipment shows error on its small screen installed on both ends of the escalator. He added that it was tougher to commute on a stationary escalator because its steps are deeper than the normal steps.

Earlier, the installation work of the escalator, which began in December 2013, took a long time and now its non-functioning has become more irksome for passengers. Many of them said the earlier staircase was better because they were psychological prepared to walk over these. They said it would have been better if the railway authorities had constructed concrete ramps.

A senior official at the local railway station said passengers were responsible for making the machine non-functional. These passengers obstruct the machine by punching its sensors which stop the escalator midway and results in error, he said.

He said it was not possible to deploy guards round the clock at the escalator. He said similarly staff was required to handle the operations of the battery-driven cars.