MARTA Closes Escalators Due to Safety Breach

By Jim Burress

Atlanta, GA – MARTA has taken offline 100 of its 149 escalators system-wide.
The move comes after a whistleblower indicated an intentional breach of safety. WABE's Jim Burress reports.

Passengers take to the stairs as a bright yellow barrier stops riders from getting on the escalator here at the Lindbergh MARTA station. It's the same scene at rail stations across the line.

The closure comes nearly a week after MARTA learned a contractor intentionally bypassed safety controls on an escalator at the Dunwoody rail station, says MARTA CEO Dr. Beverly Scott.

"By bypassing this critical control, the technician shut down the critical escalator life safety features on this escalator system."

The technician in question works for contractor Elevator Specialists, Inc. and not for MARTA. Scott says that person has worked on MARTA escalators and elevators since 2008. The contract with ESI has since been terminated, says MARTA's chief legal council, Elizabeth O'Neill.

"We're looking into all the terms, but this was, we felt a very egregious safety concern that gave us the right to take the actions we needed to."

Those actions could include prosecution of the technician, although MARTA officials say it's too early to make that call.

A call seeking comment from the former contractor, ESI, was not returned.

Scott says that company is ultimately responsible for any costs incurred:

"We probably will be cusping (sic) a certainly, probably three-quarters of a million dollars at a minimum to wind up doing all the pieces we're doing, including the emergency replacement of the contractor."

It's been a rough few weeks for MARTA. Less than two weeks ago, a 5-year old boy fell into an elevator shaft after doors at the Kensington station unexpectedly opened. He was not seriously hurt. An investigation into that incident continues. MARTA officials stress the January 18th elevator accident and this escalator situation are unrelated.

Jim Burress, WABE News.