The Problem
Due to the daily high traffic in the London Underground network, the lift doors regularly experienced a lot of wear and tear. Passengers were hit by closing doors as well as lift doors were often damaged by suitcases and trolleys.
The Solution
Panachrome detectors were selected as the optimal solution to help address the key problems which were affecting passenger safety and lift door damage and the ensuing downtime.
“We use Panachrome for two reasons,” explained Jon Spragg, lift discipline engineer at London Underground. “You’ve got the visual display as the lift doors open and close, which is great for meeting the Equality Act and keeping customers safe. But it’s also a very good deterrent at keeping people out of the path of the doors, reducing faults and ensuring efficiency of the lift flight times and passenger service.
The Result
The refurbishment project at Greenford fell into two parts. The first stage saw the installation of a new escalator to take passengers up to the train platforms. Then London Underground removed the escalator and replaced it with the incline lift.
The former escalator at Greenford Tube station, on the Central line, was replaced with an incline lift equipped with MEMCO Panachrome door detectors. The detectors flash red and green to give passengers a visual indication of when it is safe to enter and leave the lift “reducing faults and ensuring efficiency of the lift flight times and passenger service”.
“We utilise these detectors in the majority of our stations with lifts. From station to station we can have different environments – damp, cold, dry, dusty – and Panachrome reacts well and is very reliable.”
- John Spragg
