Commuters facing ‘nightmare’ at tube station after escalator closes for six months
Passengers are forced to walk down the escalators for months to catch a Tube at a London Underground station.
The Blackhorse Road Underground station escalators in Walthamstow have been shut for urgent repairs.
The closure is set to last until the summer, raising concerns for disabled passengers and over ‘chaos’ for commuters travelling on the Victoria line.
TfL said the station escalators will be closed until late June.
The closure is expected to cause chaos, including for disabled passengers and those with heavy luggage and prams. The lift is reportedly out of action at nearby Walthamstow Central station.
Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, said that TfL told her that there will be no down escalators for months.
She said that none of the stations in Walthamstow are ‘actually accessible.’
‘If you are a wheelchair user, you can’t get direct access to our platforms at either Blackhorse Road or Walthamstow Central,’ she said.
Mr Creasy said she has asked for more buses to run between Blackhorse Road station and Walthamstow Central and Tottenham Hale, and allowing more than two buggies on buses between the stations.
Sharing footage online showing a queue of passengers waiting to walk down the escalators yesterday, she said passengers may want to ‘avoid’ the station if they can.
TfL apologised to customers affected by the closure.
A TfL spokesperson told Metro: ‘The closure of the escalator at Blackhorse Road will facilitate essential maintenance, improving efficiency and safety.
‘We apologise for any disruption this important work will cause customers using the station. We encourage customers to travel at less busy times or to use our travel planning tools to take alternative routes.’
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It comes after passengers at Cutty Sark DLR station in Greenwich had to climb 121 steps after the escalator broke down last month, the Standard reports.
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