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Sydney, Australia — Railway station lifts or escalators are breaking down every three hours, with one elevator stopping nearly 60 times in a year and passengers totting up dozens of hours trapped across Sydney.

There were 2875 breakdowns in the past financial year, according to RailCorp maintenance records acquired under Freedom of Information, including 227 cases of people being trapped for up to 70 minutes.

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Commuters endured a combined 68 hours trapped in lifts and the fire brigade was often needed to rescue them. One lift at Town Hall broke down 59 times, trapping passengers five times in just five days during the brief periods it returned to service.

In 320 cases lifts remained out of service for more than 24 hours, with the worst cases including a fire-damaged lift at Lidcombe out of service for almost six months.

At Wolli Creek a lift was shut for three months due to a "damaged door closer" and a faulty gearbox put a Town Hall lift out of service for more than two months.

Stations suffering most breakdowns include Blacktown, Campbelltown, Strathfield, Bondi Junction, Mt Druitt, Hurstville and Parramatta.

Three separate escalators have been closed for over a month for "scheduled maintenance".

Transport Minister David Campbell attempted to deflect the blame for the failing lifts, claiming "three out of four of these breakdowns has been caused by vandals, idiots who misuse the elevator and other external influences".

When asked about the fact that the RailCorp document blamed vandals in fewer than 5 per cent of cases, Mr Campbell's spokesman said "other external influences" included doors damaged by delivery people, power surges, people jumping up and down, overloading and even weather damage.

Mr Campbell said RailCorp's priority was to repair "high-usage" lifts but did not give any alternative techniques being used to allow disabled access.

"I would expect RailCorp to respond rapidly when breakdowns occur," he added. "Especially where the lift provides the only form of disabled access."

Physical Disability Council of NSW policy officer Jordana Goodman said: "I know people who ring the station manager in advance to check if the lifts are operating."

Source: By Tim Vollmer and Kelvin Bissett - Daily Telegraph