After several hitches, Western Railway develops real-time monitoring app for escalators, lifts

The new app aims to significantly reduce the downtime of the escalators and lifts, thereby increasing their availability to passengers

Mumbai: You may soon find fewer malfunctioning escalators and lifts at suburban railway stations, with Western Railway (WR) developing a new internal mobile and web-based application to monitor their functioning in real-time and alert maintenance staff in case of failures. The monitoring system will cover all 122 escalators and 69 lifts in WR’s Mumbai division, including the Churchgate-Dahanu suburban corridor.

Western Railway develops real-time monitoring app for escalators, lifts

The new app aims to significantly reduce the downtime of the escalators and lifts, thereby increasing their availability to passengers. HT had earlier reported that each escalator on WR breaks down five times a day.

Railway officials said the monitoring system will also ensure efficient workforce utilisation, as more escalators and lifts can be operated with fewer staff. “Maintenance staff will move to attend faulty escalators upon receipt of audio-visual alarm on the mobile app or web app through centralised control,” said a senior WR official. “The operational record of the working of every escalator and lift will be saved on the server. The system will generate a warning if the escalator or lift is overdue for scheduled maintenance.”

While escalators and lifts were introduced at railway stations for the convenience of commuters, there have been frequent complaints about them not working. The 106 escalators at railway stations between Churchgate and Virar stopped over 193,000 times in 2023.

According to railway officials, porters sometimes press the emergency stop button of the escalators so that commuters with luggage hire their services. This happens especially at stations where long-distance trains ply. However, a WR official said that miscreants also press the emergency button, after which the escalators become non-functional until maintenance staff comes and restores them.

“It is not economical to depute individual staff for each escalator or lift. So, to overcome this difficulty, we have developed a web-based GSM alert monitoring system for escalators & lifts. A mobile-based application has also been developed for maintenance staff,” said a WR official.

Kailash Verma, a member of a railway passenger association, said such a real-time monitoring mechanism was necessary. “We suggest that this app should also be connected to the CCTVs installed near escalators to know the miscreants who press the stop button, and necessary action should be taken,” he added.