Vine City escalator that malfunctioned after concert returned to service

MARTA says the company that maintains the agency’s escalators and elevators replaced all affected components and conducted a comprehensive inspection. The state inspector has also cleared the escalator to return to service.

The transit agency said it would be “enhancing” crowd control efforts at high ridership stations during large events. The state’s investigation said the high volume of passengers was a factor in the malfunction.

“These units are safe to use, and we ask customers to follow staff and sign instructions and board them single file,” Ralph McKinney, MARTA’s chief safety and quality assurance officer, said in a statement.

Crowd control efforts will include staff as well as barricades and signs reminding passengers to board single file, MARTA said. There will continue to be staff at station gates and on platforms.

MARTA officials have said previously they had about half as many staff working as needed for crowd control efforts on the night of the concert. There was no one managing entrances onto the escalator.

MARTA’s assertion since the incident is that the malfunction was caused by a “stampede” of passengers overcrowding the escalator after a woman’s scream at seeing a bug caused panic. But that has been disputed by injured riders, other concertgoers, escalator experts and security camera video footage.

In the news release Friday, MARTA did not describe the crowd as a “stampede” but said “the investigation concluded that the sudden passenger load caused the escalator to speed up, the belts to separate from their mechanisms and the emergency brakes to engage.”

Credit: Georgia Office Of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner

Credit: Georgia Office Of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner

The state’s investigation said high passenger volume “caused operational issues,” but does not say the passenger volume caused the belts to become dislodged. In fact, the report states it’s “unknown if the belts were missing at the time of the incident or if the belts came off the pulley due to the incident.”

The state’s report does not mention emergency brakes.

MARTA spokesperson Stephany Fisher said it was an internal investigation by MARTA and maintenance contractor Schindler that determined the passenger load led the belts to dislodge and the emergency brakes to engage. It’s unclear how the investigation made that determination.

Escalator experts interviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution have maintained that a brake issue is ultimately to blame, saying they should have engaged within a tenth of a second when it sped up. Video shows the escalator speeding for at least seven seconds.