The Scotland Branch of Stannah Lift Services, based in Glasgow, has completed a comprehensive refurbishment of two traction drive passenger goods lifts for Network Rail at Glasgow Central Station. Platform 6 has a 2500kg/33 person capacity lift, whilst the lift on Platform 10 has a 3000kg/40 person capability. The modernisation programme, to Network Rail specifications, was to improve the lift performance and meet the requirements of the Lifts Directive (95/16/EC) 1995, BS5655 and EN 80-81.

Glasgow Central Station was opened by the Caledonian Railway in 1879. In 1985 the concourse was re-modelled to include a range of well-known high street retailers, for the convenience of the 34 million people who visit the station each year.

It is these retailers who rely on the lifts for the every day transfer of stock from goods-in at the lower level station to the shopping area above.

The Branch Manager of Scotland Service Branch comments:

“We were delighted to complete this refurbishment for Network Rail. Our team overcame a number of obstacles to complete an excellent job, ensuring the easy movement of goods at Glasgow Central and increasing the safety of all lift users and engineers.”

One lift at a time…

Keeping one lift fully operational was essential to the station so the lift refurbishment was completed one lift at a time.

Restricted Access…

The lack of easy access to the upper platform levels proved a challenge to Stannah too. Equipment for the refurbishment could only be delivered and off-loaded at street level due to restricted access to the lower ground loading bay area. This meant that all major motor room equipment had to be hoisted via the lift shaft.

A further problem to overcome was the reduced pit depth available. The bottom section of the new lift car sling had to be constructed ‘shallow’ to accommodate new roller guide shoes. This meant the bi-directional safety gear usually housed under the lift car had to be positioned to suit the site restrictions. The ‘down’ direction safety remains under the car whilst the ’up’ direction gear is located on the top of the car sling.

The first lift on Platform 6 is a two-floor single entry lift with both lift car and landing shutter gates. To ensure the lift is only operated by designated users and remains secure at all times, every user of the lift has a key fob that activates the car and landing push button stations. The motor room, located directly above the lift shaft was also completely refurbished with the latest technology. A new staircase to the motor room was installed to provide safe and easy access for maintenance engineers.

The second three-floor, through entrance lift on Platform 10 travels from the concourse to two levels below.

Safety First

The new lift installations were designed to comply with EN81-80 requirements. There are alarm push buttons and a two-way communication system fitted to all lift cars and landings. Speech synthesisers within each lift car provides lift travel information on all landings. The new lift drive system is a 2:1 Roped Traction Drive travelling at 0.63 metre per second. The Variable Voltage, Variable Frequency (VVVF) Drive will always ensure accurate floor levelling, regardless of load.

The lifts are manufactured to the highest specification with a life expectation of twenty five years in this harsh environment.

Lift Specification

Internal car dimensions: width 1990mm, depth 2633mm
Entrance width: 1990mm
Travel: 11700mm
Speed of travel: 0.63m/s
Lift well width: 2930mm
Lift well depth: 3310mm
Headroom: 3430mm
Depth: 890mm