Cologne escalator: quick repairs in sight - a plan of measures!

Cologne escalator: quick repairs in sight - a plan of measures!

Mülheim, Köln, Deutschland - defective escalators in Cologne subway stations have been an urgent problem for years. On Wednesday, 39 escalators were out of operation on Wednesday, which once more illustrates the frequent disorders in the approximately 264 escalators in the Cologne city area. According to the Cologne traffic companies (KVB), there were a total of 10,963 disorders in 2022, of which 2,790 are due to vandalism. The KVB works with various repair companies to improve the situation.

Traffic Director Ascan Egerer has sketched concrete measures that aim to optimize the repair and maintenance processes. One suggestion is the bundling of orders for new escalators and elevators so that more systems can be obtained from the same manufacturer. A higher weighting of reliability and delivery time for tenders could also help increase the quality of service. Currently, the procedure of the KVB is extended to obtain offers from partners after each failure, the repair times.

challenges and suggestions for improvement

In order to tackle these problems more efficiently, Egerer suggests introducing a larger spare parts warehouse so that repairs can be carried out faster. At the moment, the KVB mainly stores frequently needed spare parts. However, the procurement of some parts of older systems is difficult. The repair priority is currently also determined by the frequency of use of the escalators.

A total of 180 escalators are located in distribution and platform levels, while 84 lead to the street. A team of 20 employees is responsible for maintenance, repair and interference with these systems. The reasons for the escalating escalators are diverse: damage caused by vandalism, unreliable technology, abuse of the emergency brake or waiting for spare parts.

planned renovations

The KVB dedicates special attention to the exchange of old escalators. Five escalators, including one at the Mülheim train station, are to be exchanged for new models in the course of the summer of 2023. The escalator on Wiener Platz will be replaced in the run -up to repair a defective pipeline, which should be completed by the end of 2023.

Some existing escalators, such as those on the Heumarkt, are not replaced due to plans for a tunnel construction, while at the Rochusplatz subway station, a legal dispute over the delivery of a new escalator is pending, which is to be completely exchanged in 2023. The availability of the escalators in Cologne is between 94 and 98 percent, but the tendency towards renewal is rising - 5 to 6 escalators are now exchanged every year, with the aim of increasing this number to approx. 10 per year.

Overall, KVB, City of Cologne and NVR invest 15 million euros in new lifting stairs in order to improve the situation in the long term and in particular to offer better accessibility.