Metro was warned that its escalator brakes are worn and likely to give out more than a month before a L’Enfant Plaza escalator malfunctioned, sending dozens of passengers free-falling to the mezzanine, according to an internal audit dated Sept. 30.
“All escalator brakes have questionable stopping performance,” Metro auditor Vertical Transportation Excellence reported after inspecting 30 escalators at four stations. “Brake pads [are] worn beyond usable life expectancy and out of adjustment, allowing the unit to freewheel to stop.”
The auditors inspected the Woodley Park, Bethesda, Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom stations.
Metro interim General Manager Richard Sarles ordered the audit following a barrage of customer complaints about escalator outages.
The agency released a summary of the findings on Oct. 14 to its Customer Service and Operations Committee. The summary excluded all warnings about escalator brakes.
On Oct. 30, an escalator at L’Enfant Plaza gave out under a full load after the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally on the National Mall, sending passengers tumbling toward the platform and injuring six. A similar incident was reported at Gallery Place after a Washington Capitals game four days later, and Metro officials have since announced they will inspect each of its 588 escalators.
Metro spokesman Reggie Woodruff said Monday evening that he knew nothing about the audit.
“The only statement we’re making in regard to our escalators is that we are inspecting every single escalator in our system and inspecting the brakes,” he said. “After that inspection is done we will be reporting to our board — which would make it public — on Nov. 18.”
Metro officials did not make the audit public following the L’Enfant incident. A copy of the report was first obtained by the local blog Unsuckdcmetro.com.
“Obvious signs of conditions requiring immediate maintenance … are being overlooked,” the auditors wrote.
They described oil and lubricant leaks, worn wheels and switches in safety circuits that are “dirty, out of adjustment and ineffective.”
The auditors also inspected nine elevators and found “hoist ropes severely [roughed] and worn beyond life expectancy.” The summary report prepared by Metro boiled these issues down to “general housekeeping issues.”
The auditors also criticized Metro’s use of sheet plastic to protect electrical equipment from water damage. “This is a critical life safety issue,” the report warns.
