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Discussion relating to the past and present operations of the NYC Subway, PATH, and Staten Island Railway (SIRT).

Moderator: GirlOnTheTrain

 #1129992  by Patrick Boylan
 
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130 ... n.html?c=r
SAMANTHA HENRY , The Associated Press
Posted: Monday, January 7, 2013, 10:16 AM

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - One man says people screamed and there was panic when an escalator changed direction at the Exchange Place PATH commuter rail station in Jersey City.

Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico says four people were injured when the escalator malfunctioned Monday shortly after 9 a.m. At least one person was taken to the hospital, but the extent of the injuries was not known.

Nick Lukish of Brooklyn, N.Y., says he was headed to work and midway up the escalator when the moving staircase started going down.

The 33-year-old says he saw a stampede of people at the base while others jumped on an adjacent escalator.

Lukish says he sustained cuts and bruises.

Two of the three escalators at the station have been shut down.
ironically there are some posts in the Amtrak 'Short of rebuilding Penn Station...' thread http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 55&start=0 that complain about deliberately inappropriately, in the poster's opinion, changing escalator direction.
 #1130087  by 25Hz
 
I have to wonder if someone did this intentionally or if it was a mechanical failure of some kind...

Maybe it's time to get new escalators. They do actually slip a bit from time to time due to load.
 #1130112  by lirr42
 
It was probably some sort of mechanical failure. EXP most likely took on water during the Hurricane, so maybe some of the escalators were messed up.

But I'm fascinated how the simplest of problems caused so much chaos...the escalator changes direction so you just ride back down and calmly try the other escalator... I mean it's not like the thing burst into flames.

And there's no real way for the public to change the direction of an escalator. What happens often enough (like what was mentioned in the Short of Rebuilding Penn Station) is the people use the emergency stop button to stop the downward moving escalator, then walk up it like a staircase. You'd need a key or a computer to get it going again.
 #1130261  by Patrick Boylan
 
Calmly riding back down depends on how slowly the escalator changes direction, and how many folks behind you, and how many of those lining up to get onto the escalator get out of the way. Although I can't imagine that it stops and reverses so quickly that anybody would fall over, there may be a problem if there are many people getting off a couple of trains who don't quickly enough get out of the way of those ascending folks on the escalator who now are descending, which may have been the case since
he saw a stampede of people at the base
 #1130530  by 25Hz
 
If you look at the video you can clearly see the malfunctioning escalator is going down much faster than the one that it was being recorded from.

Yelling stop - useless.

I've actually ran up the down escalators at WTC, so i think i coulda ran up this one and got off at the top, but definitely the last thing anyone would be expecting. I've had escalators stop on me numerous times. Those metal treads are not forgiving.
 #1130946  by Allan
 
25Hz wrote:If you look at the video you can clearly see the malfunctioning escalator is going down much faster than the one that it was being recorded from.

Yelling stop - useless.

I've actually ran up the down escalators at WTC, so i think i coulda ran up this one and got off at the top, but definitely the last thing anyone would be expecting. I've had escalators stop on me numerous times. Those metal treads are not forgiving.
I have only been to Excahnge Place a few times and those escalators have always concerned me (did you know it takes 2 minutes to ride from the platform to the street? I timed it.)

I am no expert on the workings of escalators but from what I saw it would appear that the drive mechanism snapped or somehow got disconnected from the motor or the treads. What I saw was basically gravity (and the passengers weight) pushing the treads down. That is probably why the downward motion was faster than it would be if the escalator was going down under power.

Or perhaps the power failed and the braking mechanism also failed.

PATH and escalators - they are almost as bad as the MTA.
 #1132621  by 25Hz
 
It is definitely related to the storm i think. Both headhouses were totally submerged in feet of salty hudson river. They totally did not put enough sand bags to keep the water out.
 #1135402  by 25Hz
 
Well, i'm thinking more along the lines of sandbags with plywood inserted to form a wall. On the other hand, that area is windy on clear days, they probably didn't want to put anything there that could get airborne.

All moot now. Maybe for next time they could have some kind of shutter system for where the doors are.. that they installed to seal up the whole place.
 #1137427  by CLamb
 
lirr42 wrote:But I'm fascinated how the simplest of problems caused so much chaos...the escalator changes direction so you just ride back down and calmly try the other escalator... I mean it's not like the thing burst into flames.
For some reason most people are unable to fully grasp the concept of an escalator. I've seen folks get off of one and just stop--until the people behind start yelling. People also get aboard escalators without checking to see if there is room to get off at the other end. For that reason escalators have to be shut down in extremely crowded conditions.
 #1139811  by 25Hz
 
I think the weight of the people on the treads was forcing it backwards. It wasn't just an escalator going into reverse, it's like the drive chain slipped off or broke and the brake didn't engage, allowing the tread loop to move backwards under the weight of the people sill on it.

If the handrails were tied into the tread drive the handrails would have been going back also, making it nearly impossible without good coordination to climb off to an adjacent escalator.


"it seemed as if it was speeding up"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSdK83OlE4

What would have been worse is if the lights went out - you can't see ANYTHING down there without the lights!
 #1141578  by 25Hz
 
Head-end View wrote:That's why it's a good practice to carry a Mini-Maglite or similar small flashlight when riding, in case the lights go out in a station or a tunnel.
No kidding. After sandy i'm never leaving the house without at least a pocket flashlight.

Speaking of lights going out, it must have been interesting down at the WTC as the water flooded in from the streets and the power suddenly going out. I know 1 wtc had generators, but the station, church, veesey, w broadway & broadway were all dark. Not a place i'd want to be!!!