Having been paying their dues for well over three decades, the outrageously lengthy escalators at Angel station may be nearing the end of the road. The trio of 200-feet-long escalators at the busy north London station are the longest in the city, and they transport approximately 12 million passengers between the street and the platform each and every year. But they’re reportedly in rather desperate need of a bit of (well-deserved) TLC – and Angel station could be forced to close its doors for 12 months in order to carry out the work.
The three super-long escalators at Angel station were installed at the station between 1989 and 1992. One of them has been out of action since April due to deterioration, and Transport for London have allegedly said that the other two aren’t too far behind it.
According to papers seen by London Centric, Transport for London is considering making Angel station exit-only during peak times from November whilst design work for the new escalators takes place. The design process could start as early as this autumn and take around a year. After that, TfL are reportedly toying with the idea of either completely closing the station for roughly twelve months to replace the escalators or cosing the station in stages over a longer period of time to swap out the escalators one by one.
Nothing has yet been confirmed or set in stone, but if Angel station did have to close completely, passengers would need to use King’s Cross St Pancras and Old Street instead – both of which are approximately a 20 minute walk (or a short bus ride) from Angel.
Richard Jones, Director of Asset Performance Delivery for London Underground, said: “The escalators at Angel have been in service for almost 35 years and are becoming less reliable and increasingly difficult to maintain. Their size means renewal or replacement is a challenging, expensive project and we are currently exploring all options possible to extend their working life.
“Many years of constrained Government funding for essential asset renewals as meant that we have not been able to invest in new escalators at the station. Making the station exit-only during specific periods will allow us to extend the working life of the escalators and give us more time to plan our next steps, with design work on replacing the escalators to begin this autumn.
“I understand that any disruption to the station will have an impact on customers, businesses and the local community and we will do all we can to work closely with local stakeholders to ensure that we mitigate the disruption as much as possible.”
