EU takes steps to slow commuters

During the morning and evening rush hours, navigating the B-line metro station at Národní třída is a bit like maneuvering through an unruly herd of cattle. With each serpentine metro train depositing countless passengers - often lugging enormous baggage, baby strollers and bicycles, and/or accompanied by small children and animals - at roughly four- to five-minute intervals, the race from the platform to the station's escalator resembles a stampede. Leisurely passengers who ignore the unspoken rule of standing to the right are subject to pushing, shoving and elbowing by eager commuters as they scramble up the escalator, each hoping to make the approximately 75-meter journey, which takes roughly 1 minute 24 seconds, to the top a bit faster.

Those travelers will soon see their remaining patience tested once the station emerges after its extensive renovation, expected to begin before the end of the year, as the Prague Transit Company (DPP) announced plans in July to continue its ongoing overhaul of the city's metro stations by gradually replacing escalators in all stations and, henceforth, slowing their speed in accordance with new European Union regulations, which deem the original speed unsafe. At present, authorities say the original escalators, which were produced by Soviet firm Transporta, run at a speed of 2.5 meters per second, or 9 kilometers per hour. The new escalators will run at a speed of a mere 0.7 meters per second.

"There are things escalator manufacturers didn't care about 20 years ago," said Günther Horny, a Frankfurt-based engineer in the moving sidewalk and lift sector at the German Engineering Federation.

According to DPP spokesman Ondřej Pečený, most of the new escalators have been installed on the A line, and the older, faster ones remain in operation, mainly on the B line. In addition to Národní třída, central stations along this line include Anděl, Můstek and Karlovo náměstí, each of which service an estimated 40,000 passengers each day.

Pečený noted DPP had no influence on the regulations, as producers establish the speed of the escalators. He expects the replacement of all escalators, each of which costs between 50 million Kč ($2.8 million) and 100 million Kč, to be completed by 2015.

"The old escalators, which were made in Russia, are simply at the end of their lifecycle," Pečený said. "It's not something we're responsible for. ? These new EU regulations are imposed on our producers, not us."

The pending closure of Národní třída has already sparked the ire of residents, who have complained that such a long refurbishing will significantly hinder their commute. More than 8,000 area residents and business owners signed a petition last fall in protest of the closure, during which the new, slower escalators will be installed among other renovations.

Pečený said he didn't think commuters would petition to re-increase speeds, saying he hasn't heard of any complaints of delays along any of the A-line stations so far.

"Technology is changing, and these regulations are making things safer. It's as simple as that," he said. "Twenty-five years ago, not every car had an airbag. ? It's the same sort of idea."

Curtis Wong can be reached at
cwong@praguepost.com