Alperton Tube station in north-west London is home to the last wooden escalator on the London Underground, but that is about to change forever. Out with the old and in with the new, says the London governing bodies. Brent Council has agreed to contribute up to half of the costs — capped at GBP5 million (US$6.8 million) — to the installation of two new lifts at Alperton Tube station to significantly increase accessibility for passengers. The installation, that is estimated to cost between GBP10 million (US$13.6 million) and GBP16 million (US$21.7 million), will see London’s last wooden escalator replaced with a modern elevator. Some may be sad to see Alperton station lose its trivia question charm, but the escalator has already been out of commission for quite some time.
The wooden escalator has been in Alperton station since November 1955, when it was taken from the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain and reinstalled at the Tube station. In recent decades, the historic escalator, which was limited to the London-bound platform, only reliably worked in the up direction. Finally, in 1988 the city decommissioned the escalator. Yet, the wooden stagnant vertical-transportation machine still sits abandoned, hidden behind a closed-off wall at the station. Soon to be the site of one of the two new lifts being installed, the wooden escalator is approaching its official end. This is not a bitter end, as the escalator’s death comes as approximately 6,000 additional homes (600 of which will be designed to be wheelchair accessible) are expected to be built in the local area. The wooden escalator served its purpose in making the Alperton Tube station more accessible, and now the community is progressing toward unprecedented levels of accessibility for future residents. While Transport for London has yet to confirm its side of the funding and planning approval, the escalator is set to be replaced by summer 2027.
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