Europe's Longest Escalator?

Old Mar 29th, 2007, 07:50 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Europe's Longest Escalator?

Trivia question - was in the new last few days and you may well have ridden it? Where is it?
PalenQ is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 07:54 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 109
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
London, England, Tube escalator skiing?
lauralamb is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 07:57 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,118
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It's Angel tube station in London.
cailin is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 08:34 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 19,419
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
No, Angel's is the longest only in Western Europe, according to Wikipedia:

The longest individual escalators in the world are found on the metro systems in several cities in Eastern Europe; those in St. Petersburg, Kiev and Prague have Soviet-era escalators up to approximately 100 m (330ft) long. The longest of all these are in the famously deep Moscow Metro, in the Park Pobedy station. Opened in 2003, these escalators are 126 m long and take nearly three minutes to transit.

The longest single span uninterrupted escalator in the Americas is at the Wheaton station of the Washington Metro system. It is 70 m (230 ft) long, and takes almost 2 minutes and 45 seconds to ascend or descend without walking.

The longest escalator on the London Underground system, and indeed in Western Europe, is at Angel station with a length of 60m, and a vertical rise of 27.5m. The longest escalator on the Helsinki Metro is at Kamppi metro station with a length of 65m, and a vertical rise of 29.7m, including 334 steps.

The longest freestanding escalator in the world is inside a huge atrium at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. It rises 8 stories and is 205 ft (62 m) long. Originally built as the entrance to the Krofft-themed indoor amusement park The World of Sid and Marty Krofft, the escalator is now used for CNN studio tours.

FainaAgain is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 08:38 AM
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Yes the story was about Tube escalator skiing where a professional skiier skied down the railings of what the MSNBC report called Europe's longest escalator - i guess wrongly so - at the Angel station, filming himself as he went - must of had a camcorder on his front from the video i saw.

This was not an authorized stunt and authorities are seeking the culprit. Personally i wonder how he could find the escalator empty - maybe he blocked off the top for a while?
PalenQ is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 08:49 AM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 19,419
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Maybe he turned the escalator off? Is there an emergency button?
FainaAgain is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 08:55 AM
  #7  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
yes - i'll have to search the UK press for a fuller story - was on Keith Obermann's oddball Hall of Shame last night and just a quick blurb.
PalenQ is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 09:33 AM
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
When i go down some of these Uber long and steeply going down elevators in the Tube i wonder how many folks fall and injury or kill themselves!

I'm especially thinking of infirm folks, folks who faint or drunks?
PalenQ is offline  
Old Mar 29th, 2007, 10:10 AM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 19,419
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Oh, just think they can sit down and continue moving while sitting
FainaAgain is offline  
Old Mar 31st, 2007, 08:25 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,432
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I've taken the metro all over Prague, and I can attest that certain stations have such long escalators, you can hear a subway car pulling up when you are halfway down the thing, and hear it pull away before you reach the bottom! Locals know the sound & vibrations of an arriving train, even when it is not due for another 10 secs, or so, and you see people racing down the steps at 100 MPH to try & catch the thing!

A few of the steeper escalators go super fast, and it's scary to jump on. You're afraid of getting your foot stuck in the thing! The one going up at Flora is so slow, though, you can really get a good thigh workout if you just walk it the whole way up.

I once witnessed a friend of mine lose grip of his suitcase near the top of the Malostranska escalator, and it took a good minute to land "splat" at the bottom. It was a Sunday, so the metro was dead, and there were no people on the escalator other than our group, so we got a pretty good view of it taking the tumble. I think someone even videotaped it, if I remember correctly. Pretty funny.
amp322 is offline  
Old Mar 31st, 2007, 02:38 PM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 894
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I have not been to the Angel tube station in London but some of the subway stations in Prague felt like you were going into the pits of hell.
A little creepy to say the least.
CRAZY4TRAVEL is offline  
Old Mar 31st, 2007, 03:16 PM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 423
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I just went to YouTube and watched the video. Crazy! I'd like to see it from a spectator's point of view.
sshephard is offline  
Old Mar 31st, 2007, 04:16 PM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I have the distinct honor of saying I had my shoelace get stuck in the longest escalator in the world.

Now, I remember it as the reason I always pack extra shoe laces.
katya_NY is offline  
Old Mar 31st, 2007, 04:21 PM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 6,144
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Would have thought the Angel escalator was a lot more than 60m in length. Did this figure come from the infamous YouTube skiing clip, or a more reputable source?

I've seen it cited elsewhere as 300 feet - which is more like 90m. Oh, and I've been on it frequently and it does feel like it goes on forever!
RM67 is offline  
Old Mar 31st, 2007, 04:24 PM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 6,144
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
PS - There's lots of fascinating London Underground trivia to be found, such as the fact that there used to be a spiral escalator at one of the tube stations around the turn of the 20th century, and up until the 50's/60's many escalators still had to be boarded from the side via a 'shunt', causing lots of amusing accidents!
RM67 is offline  
Old Apr 1st, 2007, 03:53 AM
  #16  
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 249
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I thought the Hong Kong mid-level escalators were the longest in the world? I think it took about 20 minutes from bottom to the top.
mileaday is offline  
Old Apr 1st, 2007, 05:24 AM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 17,549
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Mileaday: that just means they are the SLOWEST LOL!
Dukey is offline  
Old Apr 1st, 2007, 05:58 AM
  #18  
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 249
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It was not slow moving just really long but it took a lot less time than climbing all the steps!
The Central-Mid-levels escalators (Traditional Chinese: ’†ŠÂŽŠ”¼ŽRŽ©“®•}’&ograve in Hong Kong is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. Hong Kong Island is dominated by steep, hilly terrain, which makes it the home of some rather unusual methods of transport up and down the slopes.

The whole system is 800 m long, and the vertical climb is 135 m. Total travel time is twenty minutes, but most people walk while the system moves to shorten their trip. Due to its vertical climb, the same distance is equivalent to several miles of zigzagging roads if travelled by car. It consists of twenty escalators and three moving sidewalks.

mileaday is offline  
Old Apr 2nd, 2007, 06:22 AM
  #19  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
And until the Kings X fire the London Tube had quite a few wooden escalators - i think the Kings X fire, in which a few dozen i think were killed, was caused by a cigarette that dropped into the wood slats.

Heavens - to think they ever allowed smoking on the Tube - how Barbarian that seems today.
PalenQ is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
KYJudy
Europe
10
Aug 6th, 2010 02:17 PM
gallerygirl
Europe
4
Apr 7th, 2007 06:09 AM
marti1
Europe
5
Apr 24th, 2006 07:41 PM
deaddog
United States
11
Feb 24th, 2005 12:02 PM
philori
Europe
4
Jul 12th, 2004 03:01 AM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -