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You know that frustrating realisation when you get off the tube, the escalators are broken and you have to climb up dozens of steps instead? The residents of Greenwich do, and all too well. Cutty Sark DLR station is a key commuter station for Greenwich locals, but has some of the most unreliable escalators in all of London.
Despite previous attempts to repair them (amounting to £695,000), all four of the escalators have out of action since before Christmas and have regularly broken down for the past three years. Commuters have had to use the lift (also unreliable, according to some) or take on the 121 steps to and from the platform (equal to eight to ten storeys). A pain, to say the least.
Now, it’s finally been decided that all the escalators need to be fully replaced. Of course, that’s going to be a hefty task. Sources say it’s likely that the station will have to close for around six months, meaning locals will need to find alternative routes.
Andy Lord, TfL commissioner, said: ‘I want to apologise to regular customers at Cutty Sark for the inconvenience they have had because of the shocking reliability of those escalators.
Speaking to the TfL board, Clair Mann, chief operating officer at TfL added: ‘It’s been a bit of a sorry tale of one escalator after the other going out, until eventually they all have failed.’
With 7.6m entries and exits each year, Cutty Sark is the third busiest station on the DLR line )after Canary Wharf and Limehouse). Mann promised that once the escalators are replaced, it will ‘absolutely transform the station’.
It’s not known when exactly the work will start, but since Greenwich is the starting point for the London marathon, it’s unlikely that Cutty Sark station will close before April 27. TfL has said it will communicate the dates as soon as they’re confirmed.
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