Moorgate escalator closure

[sprunt]

From Monday to Thursday this week, one of the escalators from the Northern City Line to the ticket hall at Moorgate station is closed during the morning peak. According to the information poster about this, it is "in preparation for work later in the year". Additionally, today and tomorrow the passage from the top of the escalators to the other side of the "airside" area of the station is closed, so to change from NCL to subsurface lines passengers need to go out of some gates, and in again.

There's clearly no actual work going on, so I was wondering what the preparations are. Is it as simple as being a trial run to make sure the alternative arrangements for moving around the station while the passage is out of bounds work well so that they can have confidence it will be fine when the work actually happens?

 

[jellybaby]

There's clearly no actual work going on

How can you tell? Perhaps there is something happening in the machine room underneath?

 

[sprunt]

If there is work going on down there that would present a risk to people in the passage then the barriers don't seem especially substantial - just an easily movable plastic barrier. If there were works that meant it was essential people were kept out of the passage, I'd expect to see the blue wooden temporary "walls" that LU tend to erect around such areas.

 

[jamesst]

If there is work going on down there that would present a risk to people in the passage then the barriers don't seem especially substantial - just an easily movable plastic barrier. If there were works that meant it was essential people were kept out of the passage, I'd expect to see the blue wooden temporary "walls" that LU tend to erect around such areas.

The blue wooden walls are only generally used on stations if the steps or basically public facing part is to be removed. Up in merseyrail underground land it's common to find an escalator simply cordoned off off peak as engineers are working underneath meaning it can't be used but at no risk to the public

 

[Failed Unit]

I assume you can still access the LU lines by walking up the stairs?

Going through last night seems odd they are only working on it in the morning peak. No evidence of any work happening at all when I walked through in the evening. (Or happened)

 

[sprunt]

Up in merseyrail underground land it's common to find an escalator simply cordoned off off peak as engineers are working underneath meaning it can't be used but at no risk to the public

Sorry if I was unclear; I wasn't talking about the escalator being closed off, but a passage leading from the area at the top of the escalator. I'm pretty sure there's no escalator work - I think the reason one of them is closed is to (sensibly) limit the number of people who can enter the (fairly restricted) area at the top of the escalators so that the area can cope with the reduction in routes out of it.

I assume you can still access the LU lines by walking up the stairs?

I'm afraid I can't remember/didn't notice which side of the stairs the barrier was on. I'd have thought so though.

Going through last night seems odd they are only working on it in the morning peak. No evidence of any work happening at all when I walked through in the evening. (Or happened)

Quite, which is what made me think it might just be a trial of the alternative routes through the station - the morning peak is by far when it's at its busiest (the station can really only just cope with the volume of traffic through it at that point) and when any such arrangements would come under most stress.

This morning, they also seemed to be making on-the-fly changes to the routes. Both escalators were running, although one was taped off, and the area at the top of the escalators was divided into two, with one escalator (the taped off one) leading to the passage and the other to the gates. When I got to the top of the escalator I could see there were a few people who'd been routed that way at the far end of the passage, but the passengers were by then all being routed through the gates. I'm pretty sure the route had been changed (probably between train arrivals) as there were far more people than usual approaching the station exit outside the gateline at the top of the escalators from the other side of the station.

 

[Fred26]

It was a trial.

In the next month or so each escalator (5&6, leading from NCL to the exit) will be taken out of use, one at a time, for 3 months each. This is for maintenance work.
Escalator 4, Northern Line to bottom of escalators 5&6, will also be completely closed during this time to reduce the footfall for the one escalator that remains open. LU staff will be positioned to stop people using #4 at all.
Whichever escalator remains open will be permanently set in the up direction. To get down to the NCL passengers will need to use the stairs.

The purpose of the trial was to see how the NCL and Northern Line platforms cope with one escalator less.