Polish city replaces infamous escalators that have been closed for six years

The Polish city of Kraków is finally replacing its infamous outdoor escalators, which have been out of service for almost six years and only worked sporadically even before then.

The non-moving stairs, which greeted visitors arriving at Kraków’s main train and bus station, had become a widely derided symbol of some of the city’s failings. One group of activists even held a mock ceremony naming them after the longstanding mayor.

Their replacement, which is being installed today but will not open until August, will cost around 4 million zloty (€940,000). It will feature a protective roof to prevent the corrosion by rainwater that is believed to have caused its predecessor to malfunction.

Nowe ruchome schody są już w Krakowie. Przypłynęły prosto z Chin. Teraz czas na ich montaż przy dworcu głównym, potem ustawienie stalowej konstrukcji, ale nad schodami nadal wisi klątwa, konstrukcję trzeba będzie przeprojektować. pic.twitter.com/mI9xvnQpwV

— Kronika (@TVP3Krakow) May 24, 2024

The escalators in question were shut down in November 2018. In the five years before then, they had undergone repairs 19 times, at a total cost of 363,000 zloty, reports news website Interia.

Since their closure, those wishing to move between the lower concourse, which connects to the train station, and the upper level, where the bus station is located, had to use normal stairs or a single lift.

On 17 August 2023 – the date by which the city’s then mayor, Jacek Majchrowski, had once promised that the escalator would reopen – local activists organised a mock ceremony to dedicate the stairs in his name. Majchrowski, who had served as mayor since 2002, stepped down this year.

In December, Kraków’s municipal road authority, ZDMK, asked people not to use the broken elevators as a sledging hill after snow built up on them during winter. “This may result, for example, in injury, for which we cannot be held responsible,” they wrote.

Na naszych oczach tworzy się historia. <3 pic.twitter.com/ckpNRq9HVR

— Grzegorz Krzywak (@GKrzywak) August 17, 2023

However, ZMDK also announced last year that it had agreed on plans to replace the escalators with new ones purchased from US manufacturer Otis featuring heated handrails.

The old escalators were removed in February this year. Today, ZMDK announced that the new escalator units had arrived in Kraków and would be installed tonight. They added that the system was now designed to ensure that the stairs’ “failure rate will be limited”.

Subsequently, work will begin on building a steel and glass roof to protect them from the rain. The total cost of the project is estimated at 4.1 million zloty.

A visualisation of the planned new escalator (ZDMK)

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Main image credit: Krakow.pl

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.