After several weeks of issues with the escalators at Haymarket station on the Tyne and Wear Metro, Nexus have made the decision that the station will temporarily become exit only. Although a major programme of refurbishment work has recently been started on the escalators they have become increasingly unreliable recently and taking this into account the decision has been made to make this temporary change for the next fortnight.
Speaking about this change, Stuart Clarke, Metro Infrastructure Director, said: “Following ongoing issues with the escalators at Haymarket Metro Station, we have taken the decision to make Haymarket an exit only station for the next two weeks. We have listened to customer feedback and understand that the intermittent nature of the escalator faults is causing uncertainty. Whilst we appreciate this temporary change will be inconvenient, we hope this provides customers with some clarity and will enable them to plan their journeys more effectively. I’d like to sincerely apologise for the ongoing disruption to our customers.”
All three escalators at Haymarket are being refurbished as part of a wider £2 million project which is seeing both escalators at lifts across the network enjoying essential work.
Stuart added: “We are currently investing £2m in lifts and escalators on the Metro system to ensure they are fit for service for many more years to come. These assets are heavily used by customers, especially at those stations in busy city centres and they need renewal work. At Haymarket all three of the station’s escalators are being refitted with the steps and drive chains. While we are refurbishing each escalator in turn, this is putting pressure and extra footfall on the other escalators and causing other issues to arise. We are addressing these as a matter of urgency with our contractor. The refurbishment work will continue and we will review our position on Haymarket again in two weeks’ time. We will provide a full update to our customers then.”