MARTA: Kensington elevator has hardware problems, investigation says

An independent investigation into an elevator at MARTA’s Kensington rail station has revealed “several problems with critical pieces of hardware,” the agency said Thursday.

The problems, including missing or bent pieces that prevented the elevator doors from closing properly, were what contributed to a 5-year-old boy's fall down the elevator shaft in January.

MARTA officials called for the independent investigation immediately afterward. The transit agency also did its own “visual inspection” of all elevator doors and found 11 that were “out of adjustment,” according to information released Thursday.

The Georgia Department of Labor is the lead agency investigating the elevator incident in which a boy fell when he was leaning against the elevator door, which “somehow became disengaged or opened,” DeKalb County fire spokesman Capt. Eric Jackson said when it happened.

MARTA hired Vertical Transportation Excellence (VTX) to independently investigate all of its 112 elevators and 149 escalators.

In its report, VTX found several “gibs” – parts that keep an elevator door aligned in its track as it opens and closes – to be missing, bent or not adequately secured.

The report also said the gibs and brackets on the lead hoistway door panel were not installed properly and that “continued exposure to unprotected environmental conditions” weakened the gib brackets on the lead hoistway door.

The report lists the five most recent service calls for work on that particular elevator, starting on Nov. 3, 2009. According to MARTA maintenance records, the service calls were to put either the car doors or the hoistway doors on track. One call said the gibs were out of the sill.

MARTA deputy general manager Dwight Ferrell told the AJC that the same person worked on the doors at least two or three times out of the five service calls.

Should the transit agency decide to pursue criminal charges or take any other disciplinary action, it must turn that information over to GDOL first, Ferrell said.

“If it relates to the licensing of mechanics or [the maintenance company], they would be the one to do that,” he said.

Ferrell said MARTA is trying to determine the full cost of fixing the doors. It currently is negotiating a price with Schindler Elevator Corp., which has a temporary maintenance contract with MARTA.

MARTA's budget already must be cut by $100 million this year.

The incident at the Kensington station came a week before MARTA terminated a contract with its elevator inspection and maintenance company and shut down 100 of its 149 escalators.

MARTA cut the contract with Elevator Specialists Inc. after learning that one of its mechanics knowingly bypassed a safety system on an escalator at the Dunwoody station. Officials also found out that the same contract employee had worked on or inspected more than 137 of the escalators within the past year, said Beverly Scott, MARTA's general manager and chief executive officer.

VTX is independently investigating all of MARTA’s elevators and escalators.

MARTA said Thursday it has taken steps to improve the safety of its elevators, including installing metal brackets that will help keep the elevator doors in alignment.