Beaudry metro's moving sidewalk is 'always broken,' commuters say

Dany Deslauriers uses the Beaudry Metro station a lot, which means he uses the moving sidewalk in the station often, or tries to.

Its always out, its always broken, Deslauriers said. I always ask myself questions, is it going to work this time or notis it going to roll or not?

Beaudry is the only station in the metro system with a moving sidewalk instead of an escalator.

Except the moving sidewalk in Beaudry is not moving it's beenstopped since the beginning of November.

Metro riders are forced to take the stairs, a climb that takes about a minute and a half, and leaves many people huffing and puffing.

Its not like its two stairs, said Frances Roc. Its really long.

The STM, Montreals transit corporation, told CBC'sDaybreakthat the sidewalk's moving surface has cracks in some of the 460 metal sheets that make it up. The STM said it didnt know why the cracks appearedor when they would be fixed.

8 years of problems

The work was scheduled to last several months, but instead took almost three and a half years.

The moving sidewalk was finally completed in mid-2009, with grooves cut into the metal to prevent slips.

The STM started work in 2006 to replace the rubber-surfaced moving sidewalk with a metal one.

It promised the new surface would last longer and be easier to repair.

But when the metal device was put into service, the STM discovered a problem: it was too slippery.

It had to be shut down again.

The STM said the metal moving sidewalk cost $2.8 million, but it could not say how much the repairs have cost.

Officials said theyhopeto have the moving sidewalk working by the end of the week.