After about 130 escalators went out of service at several German train stations, the Federal Ministry of Transport is urging the rail operator to address the problem quickly.
A spokesperson for Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) told the Rheinische Post that the large number of outages is especially frustrating for people with mobility restrictions, and that the resulting anger is understandable.
The spokesperson added that the rail company had assured the ministry that the shutdowns were forced by a defect that caused abrupt stops. For safety reasons they had to act pre‑emptively, and they are now working vigorously with the manufacturer to bring the escalators back into operation.
Escalators are currently stopped at multiple sites, including Cologne/Bonn Airport station, Frankfurt, Dresden, Essen, Hamburg and Düsseldorf. The first units are expected to resume service this Saturday, though the exact number of operational escalators remains unknown.
