{"id":178109,"date":"2025-06-12T10:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T10:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/178109\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T10:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T10:05:11","slug":"london-undergrounds-last-wooden-escalator-is-being-replaced-with-a-lift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/178109\/","title":{"rendered":"London Underground\u2019s Last Wooden Escalator Is Being Replaced With A Lift"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transport for London<\/a>\u00a0is giving Alperton tube station\u00a0a step-free glow-up by replacing its antiquated (now out-of use) wooden escalator with two brand new lifts.<\/p>\n

Taken from the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain, the\u00a0already-vintage<\/a>\u00a0escalator was installed into Alperton station in November 1955 with only one direction, up. It also only benefited commuters heading London-bound, and was decommissioned in 1988.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, the London Underground’s last wooden relic has been hidden behind a closed-off wall, but soon it will be gone forever, as the out of service\u00a0escalator is going to be removed to make way for lifts, making Alperton fully accessible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brent Council has agreed to team up with TfL to partially fund the station revamp by contributing up to half of the total costs (capping at \u00a35 million).\u00a0Now, the new lift will make Alperton’s eastbound platform completely step-free, except for the step from the train to the platform, where staff members will provide mini-ramps as needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for westbound commuters, the stairs and tunnel under the railway complicate the renovation designs. TfL\u00a0has considered adding a new lift for a separate tunnel that’s behind the retail space in front of the station, but that would require its current occupiers, a local barber shop, to close. Will they close a local business for the greater good of accessible transit? That is\u00a0to be determined.<\/p>\n

What we\u00a0do\u00a0know is that the upgrade will include more ticket barriers and new accessible toilet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s essential that TfL and local authorities continue working together to help achieve a city where the public transport network is open to everyone, with the delivery of schemes being prioritised where there is third party funding available,\u2019 said a spokesperson for TfL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With 6,000 new homes expected to be constructed in the area, and at least 10\u00a0percent of them designed to be wheelchair accessible, the station glow-up will significantly help meet the new residents\u2019 requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Costs for the station\u2019s revamp are expected to\u00a0be between \u00a310 million and\u00a0\u00a316 million, with construction expected to start next summer for the lifts to open in summer 2027.<\/p>\n

You can ride a vintage 1930s train on the London Underground next month.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This new tube map shows Underground trains in real time.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke \u2013 from news and reviews to events and trends. Just\u00a0follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up for our\u00a0free Time Out London newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Transport for London\u00a0is giving Alperton tube station\u00a0a step-free glow-up by replacing its antiquated (now out-of use) wooden escalator…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,11648,393,19292,4884,257,11649,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-178109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-categories-travel","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-global-kickers-train-travel","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-news-transport-travel","15":"tag-travel","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114669834970195448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}