I recently enquired about the lifts at Streatham Station which have been out of action for several months now. Please see below the response from Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR):
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Good afternoon, Steve
We have been working closely with our colleagues at Network Rail to address the issues at Streatham station. For context, as infrastructure, our colleagues at Network Rail manage the installation of the lift, maintenance and repairs, while Southern Railway staff manage the station day to day.
It may be helpful to divide the history of the lift into two periods, prior to 24 April 2024 and 24 April to date.
Prior to 24 April 2024
The lift installation was originally completed on 1 December 2023. However, in the period of 1 December 2023 to 24 April 2024, the lifts did not complete the two weeks of fault-free running required for the lift to be considered accepted, and for hand over from the lift contractor to Network Rail and its business as usual maintainer Stannah.
As faults were intermittent, they were very difficult to identify, but were eventually isolated to electrical faults on the Platform 2 lift and a hydraulic fault on the Platform 1 lift. During this period of time, the customer experience of the lifts will have been very unreliable and for which we can only apologise.
Post 24 April 2024
Following the return to service of the platform 2 lift on 31 March, having had its electrical systems replaced, on 24 April the platform 1 lift was returned to service with new hydraulic components.
Following fault free running, the lifts were then accepted by Network Rail on 22 May with maintenance responsibility transferred to Stannah.
Since 24 April / 22 May there have been four instances of outages as detailed below:
- 27 May – The platform 1 lift was out of order, the cause of which was a passenger impacting the doors and as a result slightly bending the locking mechanism, likely by running at a closing set of doors. Unfortunately, confusion among the station team meant that this fault was initially reported to the installers, rather than Stannah as this had been the practice until five days prior. The fault was correctly reported on 3 June, with the lift returned to service on the 5th of June. Staff were re-briefed as a result of this experience.
- 5-6 June – The platform 1 lift was out of order following a power failure at the station.
- 18 June – A passenger held the doors for so long that a safety feature activated where the doors were held open. The lift was believed to be faulty and reported as such. This was reset by pressing the door close button on the 19 June, but initially (incorrectly) reported as a fault.
- 27 June to 5 July – The platform 1 lift was incorrectly reported as out of order by station staff who believed the alarm system was not functioning. In practice, the alarm system is only active when the doors are closed. Staff were attempting to test the alarm without closing the lift doors first. Staff were not aware of this feature and have been re-briefed.
Acknowledging that the period prior to 24 April was very challenging, since this date the lifts have generally been reliable, although as the incident list above highlights, there was an initial case of our team unfortunately following the wrong process for reporting a lift fault, and there have been two instances of confusion – i.e. the existence of a feature which holds the doors open, and local knowledge that the alarm system can only be tested with the doors closed.
Streatham Station user’s experience of the lifts moving forwards should be much more reliable.
Best wishes,
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)
