A new contract awarded to KONE by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will provide the installation of heavy duty, transit grade escalators at 32 Metro stations starting in May 2021.
A total of 130 escalators will be replaced as part of a $179 million project that will take seven years to complete.
The oldest and least reliable escalators in the system will be removed and replaced by new ones that have the latest safety features, including LED lighting, according to a release from WMATA.
“Focused investment in safety and reliability improvements have resulted in 95 percent of Metro’s escalators being in service to customers,” Metro CEO Paul Wiedefeld said in the release. “Replacing these escalators that average 38-years old, will ensure we maintain reliability for our customers today and into the future.”
Metro replaced 145 escalators and rehabilitated another 153, changing their motors, steps, handrails and electrical systems, finalizing an eight-year campaign in November 2019.
“With this new contract, 517 of the system’s 618 escalators (84%) will be replaced or rehabilitated since the program began in 2011,” DC Metro said.
New escalators coming to customers at 32 Metro stations; contract awarded to replace 130 escalators over 7-years. Details: https://t.co/OSNc9fJ2ND #wmata pic.twitter.com/YHlDgvE1p7
— Metro (@wmata) February 16, 2021
Escalators that will be replaced at three of the 10 longest station entrances in the system are:
- four escalators at Rosslyn that date back to 1977 and rise nearly 10 stories,
- three escalators at the Dupont Circle North entrance first installed in 1976,
- three escalators at Tenleytown that run from the street to the platform mezzanine.
The full list of stations that will receive escalator replacements in the project are as follows:
- Addison Road (2 escalators)
- Metro Center (9 escalators)
- Ballston (6 escalators)
- National Airport (4 escalators)
- Benning Road (5 escalators)
- New Carrollton (1 escalator)
- Brookland-CUA (3 escalators)
- Pentagon (5 escalators)
- Capitol South (3 escalators)
- Pentagon City (4 escalators)
- Crystal City (6 escalators)
- Potomac Ave. (3 escalators)
- Deanwood (2 escalators)
- Rhode Island Ave (3 escalators)
- Dunn Loring (2 escalators)
- Rockville (2 escalators)
- Dupont Circle (3 escalators)
- Rosslyn (8 escalators)
- Farragut North (6 escalators)
- Silver Spring (5 escalators)
- Federal Center SW (3 escalators)
- Takoma (3 escalators)
- Franconia-Springfield (5 escalators)
- Tenleytown (7 escalators)
- Gallery Place (6 escalator)
- Twinbrook (1 escalator)
- Grosvenor (4 escalators)
- Union Station (2 escalators)
- L’Enfant Plaza (9 escalators)
- Vienna (3 escalators)
- Medical Center (2 escalators)
- Virginia Square (3 escalators)
No more than 18 escalators will be out of service at any given time, according to WMATA.