Some 130 escalators in 32 Metrorail stations will begin getting replaced starting this May.
It’s part of a decadelong program to restore and replace the “oldest and least reliable escalators in the system,” according to a news release from the transit agency.
Metro awarded the seven-year, $179 million project to KONE Corp., which will carry out the work. It includes the installation of heavy-duty, transit-grade escalators that incorporate the latest safety features, such as LED lighting.
“Replacing these escalators that average 38 years old will ensure we maintain reliability for our customers today and into the future,” said Metro General Manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld.
KONE will demolish and remove the existing escalators and run new electrical cables, reroute power feeds, build new controllers and enclosures, and remove and relocate infrastructure and equipment.
“The new escalators must be manufactured specifically for Metro and cannot simply be purchased off-the-shelf,” Metro said.
The following stations will get the new escalators, which include escalators at three of the 10 longest station entrances in the system — the Rosslyn, Dupont Circle and Tenleytown stations.
- Addison Road (two escalators)
- Metro Center (nine escalators)
- Ballston (six escalators)
- Reagan National Airport (four escalators)
- Benning Road (five escalators)
- New Carrollton (one escalator)
- Brookland-CUA (three escalators)
- Pentagon (five escalators)
- Capitol South (three escalators)
- Pentagon City (four escalators)
- Crystal City (six escalators)
- Potomac Avenue (three escalators)
- Deanwood (two escalators)
- Rhode Island Avenue (three escalators)
- Dunn Loring (two escalators)
- Rockville (two escalators)
- Dupont Circle (three escalators)
- Rosslyn (eight escalators)
- Farragut North (six escalators)
- Silver Spring (five escalators)
- Federal Center SW (three escalators)
- Takoma (three escalators)
- Franconia-Springfield (five escalators)
- Tenleytown (seven escalators)
- Gallery Place (six escalator)
- Twinbrook (one escalator)
- Grosvenor (four escalators)
- Union Station (two escalators)
- L’Enfant Plaza (nine escalators)
- Vienna (three escalators)
- Medical Center (two escalators)
- Virginia Square (three escalators)
More details will be released later, but Metro said that the contract stipulates that no more than 18 escalators will be out of service at any given time.
Last year, Metro completed an eight-year project that replaced 145 escalators and rehabilitated 153. The transit agency also started working on 89 escalators throughout the system last year.
With the contract with KONE, Metro said that 517 of its 618 escalators, or 84%, will be replaced or rehabilitated because work on escalators throughout the system began in 2011.
