Groningen station escalator out until February 2027 after King’s Night vandalism

Unknown individuals pushed a 1,000-kilogram aerial work platform off an escalator at Groningen station during King's Night, causing such extensive damage that the escalator was taken out of service, RTV Noord reports. It will remain unusable for at least six months at a cost of a quarter-million euros.

ProRail initially expected repairs within a few weeks. The infrastructure manager now says the escalator will stay out of operation for at least 28 weeks, until February 2027. The escalator carries passengers from the station building into the pedestrian tunnel. The escalator running in the opposite direction continues to function.

“The damage is enormous,” ProRail spokesperson Friso Schotanus said. “Besides repairing the parts damaged by the thousand-kilo aerial work platform, the complete drive of the escalator must be replaced.”

Replacing the drive is the most time-consuming element. “The drive still has to be manufactured,” Schotanus explained. “The delivery time is 26 weeks. With the repairs included, this means it will take at least 28 weeks before the escalator is in use again.”

Train and bus passengers must use the stairs or elevators to reach the pedestrian tunnel until February 2027. “Those are fortunately all operational at Groningen station, that is a stroke of luck amid misfortune,” Schotanus said.

The vandalism has produced a substantial bill. “The costs are a quarter million,” Schotanus said. ProRail expects difficulty recovering the money from the vandals because no camera images of the incident exist. The company has nonetheless filed a police report.