Metro officially opened a $1.2 million training facility Wednesday to teach mechanics how to repair the system’s elevators and escalators.
One of the most commonly heard complaints about the system’s 588 escalators and 267 elevators is that they never work, forcing millions of riders to the stairs each day.
“People like riding our escalators and elevators. When they are down, it is a pain in the read end, particularly for our disabled customers,” said Charles Deegan, a Maryland representative on the Metro board. “Hopefully this will help the reliability of escalators and elevators in our system.”
On an average day, about 30 escalators and six elevators are out of service due to rehabilitation, maintenance or repairs, said David Lacosse, Metro’s director of elevators and escalators.
Metro is about 60 percent finished with its 10-year escalator rehabilitation program and has already seen a 4 percent increase in reliability, Lacosse said.
The Landover facility features an escalator made out of parts from the five different types of escalators Metro uses. There is a traction elevator and a hydraulic elevator. All three have transparent panels to let mechanics see the operations.
In addition to training the apprentices, Metro will use the facility to help mechanics learn about new technology and research reoccurring problems at the stations, said Cedric Watson, Metro superintendent of elevators and escalators.
“The more time we get here, the less time [elevators and escalators] are down in the field,” said Jibril Ba’th, 31, of Capitol Heights, a first-year apprentice in the Metro program.
