Commuters rejoice - broken Southern Cross escalator is finally fixed
After more than a month of chaos, broken promises and a trip halfway around the world for one spare part, Southern Cross Station's out-of-action escalator is finally working again.
The escalator, one of three servicing platforms nine and 10 at the Collins Street end of the station, has been out of commission since early April when a major component broke down.
It caused peak hour delays for frustrated commuters on the Hurstbridge/Mernda and Belgrave/Lilydale/Alamein/Glen Waverly lines.
The repairs took so long because an escalator part needed to be made in Europe and shipped over, only arriving in Australia in the past few days.
Sandwiched between its two older cousins, the repaired escalator has a distinctively new-looking sheen. How long that will last with the thousands of commuters that pass through the station on a daily basis is yet to be seen.
Metro Trains had hoped to fix the escalator within days of the malfunction but the timeline was delayed again and again.
The debacle sparked a conversation about how the station can cater for increasing numbers of passengers.
By 2031, the station's operators expect the number of passengers passing through the station to increase by an extra 100,000 a day.