Escalator Stops Plague Western Railway Station in India

Each escalator at stations on the Western Railway (WR) in India stops working an average of five times a day, according to officials, the Hindustan Times reports. Data from 2023 shows that the 106 escalators on stations between Churchgate and Virar were stopped more than 193,000 times during the course of the year. WR officials say the majority of the stops are from people pushing the “Stop” buttons for fun. Another reason that has come to light is that porters sometimes press the red “Stop” buttons to stop the escalators to increase the chances of getting hired by commuters carrying luggage. When the escalators are stopped, it takes 30-45 min on average to get them working again. The Central Railway, which has 101 escalators on the CSMT-Kalyan/Panvel route, does not maintain any record of escalator breakdowns.