Steepest Escalator in the UK?

[parrot]

While going up the escalator at Oxford Circus today I noticed that they were particularly steep, at least compared to what I was used to seeing normally. Upon googling this question I did not find a answer that said what the steepest was, just the longest (Angel). Does anyone know what the steepest one is? Or is it actually Angel?

 

[NSEWonderer]

Pretty sure Angel is also the steepest. Trying to fit 60m of rising escalator in a confined space will be done at the cost of a lesser angle of rise.

Its something like 27 degrees of vertical rise which is only just 3 degrees off the usual maximum angle for any escalator to operate at a decent height(Being 30 degrees of rise)

Why go to the alps if you have a slope like this(don't at all recommend).

 

[MerlinRail 804]

Pretty sure Angel is also the steepest. Trying to fit 60m of rising escalator in a confined space will be done at the cost of a lesser angle of rise.

Its something like 27 degrees of vertical rise which is only just 3 degrees off the usual maximum angle for any escalator to operate at a decent height(Being 30 degrees of rise)

Why go to the alps if you have a slope like this(don't at all recommend).

At least there was no one coming the other way!

 

[Horizon22]

Angel is the longest, but wasn't sure it was the steepest?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

So if Angel is 27°, does anywhere in the UK have a steeper angle of inclination (assuming the maximum permitted is indeed 30°)?

 

[Rescars]

Trying to fit 60m of rising escalator in a confined space will be done at the cost of a lesser angle of rise.

You could try a spiral escalator perhaps, like the original installation at Holloway Road!

 

[NSEWonderer]

You could try a spiral escalator perhaps, like the original installation at Holloway Road!

Too much issues with the design vs standard design. Quite complex to maintain and build.

 

[edwin_m]

Too much issues with the design vs standard design. Quite complex to maintain and build.

The spiral never worked anyway. I've seen a picture of a curved escalator, somewhere in the Far East I think, but the radius looked to be too large for it to fit in a sensible size of vertical shaft.

 

[swt_passenger]

When an escalator gradient is assessed, is it the full end to end distance, or just the angle of the main run, ie do they ignore the flat runoff sections? I expect they’ve increased those lengths over the years for greater safety?

 

[NSEWonderer]

When an escalator gradient is assessed, is it the full end to end distance, or just the angle of the main run, ie do they ignore the flat runoff sections? I expect they’ve increased those lengths over the years for greater safety?

Just the actual rise which in maths would be seen as the hypotenuse.

 

[JordR]

Didn't the escalators in the new southern entrance to Leeds station need an exception as they had to be unusually steep to fit the space?

 

[Dstock7080]

Didn't the escalators in the new southern entrance to Leeds station need an exception as they had to be unusually steep to fit the space?

Indeed, 35°:

Stannah at Leeds Station southern entrance

Stannah delivers accessibility in Leeds Station Southern Entrance - a £20-million Network Rail upgrade. Read more online

www.stannahlifts.co.uk

Bespoke manufacture of the machines at 35 degrees instead of the standard NR specification of 30 degrees, and the reduction of the speed of the machines from the standard NR .65m/s to .05m/s all result in safe, efficient travel within the constraints of an unusual and stunning building design. With no room for housing external controllers these became an integral part of the escalators.

 

[CharlieSpotted]

Following multiple escalator and lift installations at the Midlands hub of Birmingham New Street and Grand Central for Network Rail and Mace, Stannah were again the chosen supplier and installer of all vertical transport within the southern entrance building.​

God, I hope they work better than the ones at New Street/Grand Central, because as anyone who travels through New Street will attest a large proportion of them are always out of order and have been ever since day 1.

 

[Taunton]

I've always found the escalators above Reading station platforms to feel unusually steep. Especially when they are not working and you have to walk down them.

I also wonder about the escalator angle of those going to the upper level of the Canary Wharf shopping centre, above the east side of the DLR platforms.

 

[Deepgreen]

The spiral never worked anyway. I've seen a picture of a curved escalator, somewhere in the Far East I think, but the radius looked to be too large for it to fit in a sensible size of vertical shaft.

I have heard that it is intended to install curved escalators at Harrods.

 

[zwk500]

Indeed, 35°:

Stannah at Leeds Station southern entrance

Stannah delivers accessibility in Leeds Station Southern Entrance - a £20-million Network Rail upgrade. Read more online

www.stannahlifts.co.uk

5cm/s sounds painfully slow for an escalator, up or down! Is that a typo for 0.5m/s?

 

[TravelDream]

The spiral never worked anyway. I've seen a picture of a curved escalator, somewhere in the Far East I think, but the radius looked to be too large for it to fit in a sensible size of vertical shaft.

I've been on curved ones in a casino in Vegas and in a shopping mall in Japan so they definitely exist and work.

A quick Google shows Mitsibushi is the (or claims to be the) only manufacturer of curved escalators in the world which suggest as small niche market.

The issue of repair/ parts would remain though even if they worked well. Delays to repairs are bad enough as it is.

 

[fgwrich]

I have heard that it is intended to install curved escalators at Harrods.

The first curved ones in the UK.

 

[station_road]

Didn't the escalators in the new southern entrance to Leeds station need an exception as they had to be unusually steep to fit the space?

That explains why I felt a bit uneasy using them!

 

[Mikey C]

Not this country, but using the Munich u-bahn recently, it did strike me that the escalators were steeper than those in London!

 

[jamesst]

The main ones to the ticket barriers in Moorfields station always seem incredibly steep

 

[800001]

Escalators on the central core of Elizabeth Line seem a lot steeper than any other escalator I've been on before.

 

[83G/84D]

Escalators on the central core of Elizabeth Line seem a lot steeper than any other escalator I've been on before.

Agree, having recently changed from the Elizabeth line to the H&C at Liverpool St, there is one set in particular that seem long and steep.

 

[dorsetdesiro]

Likely not the steepest officially, those at Nine Elms and Holborn stations appear to be