Melbourne public transport: People keep falling down Parliament train station escalator
It’s enough to give you vertigo.
Steep, long and overcrowded, the escalators at Melbourne’s Parliament Station are a toxic combination of dangerous elements.
So long are the two sets of escalators at the central CBD public transport hub that it takes one minute and 25 seconds to travel from top to bottom.
People keep falling down them, too. According to the ABC, there have been more than 600 escalator-related incidents at Melbourne stations in the past nine years.
Of the stations on that list, Parliament Station is the most risky.
The statistics have forced Metro Trains to act, recruiting design experts from local RMIT University to come up with a solution.
The longest escalator in the southern hemisphere is now also littered with signs warning commuters to hold on to the rail and ride safely.
One sign at the station says 17 per cent of falls on escalators at Parliament Station are the result of people looking up or backwards. Other factors that contribute include people wearing heavy bags.
Anthony Fewster from Metro Trains told the Herald Sun that “accidents do happen” and most are a result of “distractions” and the “disorienting lighting and colour scheme in the tunnels”.
Social media users agreed.
“This became my regular station a year ago, and the first three days, I had to hold on for dear life because I always felt like I was falling backwards. All the lines are disorientating,” one said.
Another said the situation is “made all the worse by people rushing to get down at breakneck speed to catch trains” and another said, “The only time I ever experienced vertigo was at the top of these escalators. I have no fear of heights but if you’re not prepared, they’re confronting.”
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