he 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 capacity. 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 EN81-80.

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.

Stannah Passenger LiftOne 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.