Worlds Longest Escalator
These images were emailed to me along with the title ‘World’s Longest Escalator’ and no information to accompany them. But my search for further information raised more questions than answers. So what do the experts at the Guinness World Records have to say? “No matching records found” for world’s longest escalator or longest escalator.
Photo Stephen A. Bass
Photo Stephen A. Bass
Photo Stephen A. Bass
Photo Stephen A. Bass
Photo Stephen A. Bass
Umeda Sky Building ground floor. Photo Freddie18 Virtual Tourist
UPDATE: Thanks to a comment left by Slevi who informed me that these photos were of the Umeda Sky Building, I was able to find information which validates that this is not the longest escalator in the world, as well as information for the author of the images, which have now been credited. Information on the building is directly below.
Read on for other escalators that claim to be the longest escalators in the world or their regions by varying degrees and descriptions.
Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, Japan
The Umeda Sky Building is the 7th tallest building in Osaka City, Japan, and one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. It consists of two 40 story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with bridges and an escalator crossing the wide atrium-like space in the center.
Located in the Umeda district of Kita-ku in Osaka Japan, the building was originally conceived in 1988 as the ‘City of Air’ project, which planned to create four interconnected towers in northern Osaka, but the project went no further than the 2 towers. The Umeda Sky Building offers a 360° view from the 39th floor. You can wait at the 40th floor for the sun to set in the Sky Cafe.
The 568 foot (173 meters) building was designed by Hiroshi Hara. It was constructed by Takenaka Corporation and was completed in 1993. This information validates that these photos are not the longest escalator in the world as they’ve been acclaimed on some sites.
Sources: Japan Guide, Virtual Tourist and Wikipedia
Further research for the World’s Longest Escalator revealed a myriad of results …
Angel Tube Station on the Northern Line
Angel Tube Station is a London Underground station and allegedly the longest escalator in Western Europe. Located in the Angel, Islington, on the Bank branch of the Northern Line, between Old Street and King’s Cross St. Pancras stations, this escalating marvel rises over nine stories high, with a vertical rise of 90 feet (27.4 meters) and a length of 197 feet (60 meters). The view reminds one of rise to a peak of a rollercoaster ride.
Angel station is 1 of 5 stations on the London Underground named after the once famous Angel inn, dating back to at least 1638. The Northern line was originally formed from two competing railways, both of which had built platforms at Euston station. Built by the City & South London Railway, Angel station opened in 1901. It was originally built with a single central island platform serving two tracks — an arrangement still seen at Clapham North and Clapham Common — with access from street level via lifts. The station regularly suffered from congestion and overcrowding for many years, and was consequently rebuilt and re-opened in 1992.
The lifts and the ground level building originally on the corner of Torrens Street and City Road were closed and a new station entrance was opened nearby in Islington High Street. Due to the distance of the new entrance from the platforms and their depth, two flights of escalators were required aligned approximately at a right-angle. These include the longest escalators in Western Europe.
Sources: BBC.co.uk and Wikipedia
The Longest Escalator in Western Europe
Ever wondered what riding down the longest escalator in Western Europe is like? A rather disappointing video, the ride down the escalator at Angel station on the Northern line of the London Underground.
Guys Skis Down Angel Tube Escalator
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a man skied 197 feet down the longest escalator on the London Underground earlier this year. Transport for London urged police to take the “strongest possible action” against any similar offenders.
Angel Reverse Escalator Challenge
Another video depicts a ‘challenge’ where some youths run UP the DOWN escalator.
Longest Escalator Systems in the World
Tens of thousands of commuters travel to work daily in Hong Kong between Central, the central business district, and the Mid-levels — a residential district hundreds of feet uphill — using a long distance system of escalators and moving sidewalks called the Central Mid Levels escalator. It’s the world’s longest outdoor escalator system — not a single escalator span — with a total combined length of 2626.66 feet (800 meters). Running only one direction at a time, it reverses depending on rush hour traffic direction.
Top and center photos Wikipedia, Bottom Photo Random Hong Kong Pictures
The Ocean Park in Hong Kong also has a long escalator system connecting two parts of the Park, with an overall length of 745 feet (225 meters) and a vertical rise of 377 feet (115 meters). A bank of four spiral escalators in the Times Square shopping centre in Causeway Bay turns about 180 degrees each.
Sources: Answers.com and Wikipedia
Longest Individual Escalators in the World
The longest individual escalators in the world are found on the metro systems in several cities in Eastern Europe. Those in St. Petersburg, Kiev and Prague have Soviet-era escalators up to approximately 330 feet (100 meters) long. The longest of all these are in the famously deep Moscow Metro, in the Park Pobedy station.
The Moscow Metro is a metro system which reaches nearly every part of Moscow, Russia. It’s one of the most heavily used metro systems in the world and famous for its stations which are heavily decorated.
The Metro is 278.8 miles (449 kilometers) long in total with 172 stations. During the week about 8.2 million passengers use the Metro and 7.1 million on weekends. The system was built almost entirely underground, although some cross the Moskva river, while another crosses the Yauza River by bridge.
Park Pobedy
Opened in 2003, Park Pobedy is the deepest station not only in Moscow and Russia but also in the world. Its lowest point reaches a depth of 97 meters. The station is located in an area with high water carrying horizons and had to be built under them. Its escalators are the longest in the world, each 126 meters in length and having 740 steps. A ride upward takes about three minutes.
Moscow Metro in the Park Pobedy Escalator. Photo News Metro
Photo Moscow Metro in the Park Pobedy station. Photo A Midget Blog
Ride on Moscow Metro Escalator
In Petrovsko-Razumovskaya station
Sources: Wikipedia and Answers.com
Wheaton station of the Washington Metro subway system
Touted to be the longest single-span escalator system in the Western Hemisphere is the Wheaton station of the Washington Metro subway system in Montgomery County, Maryland on the Red Line. The station serves the suburb of Wheaton, Maryland, located at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Reedie Drive.
Wheaton Image Wikimedia
Although it’s reported with varying lengths from 230 feet (70 meters) to 508 feet (155 meters) in length, it’s not the deepest station in the system, which is Forest Glen, which has an elevator-only exit due to its depth. The trip on Wheaton’s escalator takes more than 3 minutes to ride.
Service at Wheaton began on September 22, 1990. It was the northeastern end of the Red Line for nearly eight years, until the Glenmont station opened in July 1998.
Sources: Wikipedia and The Longest List
Tyne & Wear Tunnels
Opened in 1951, the Tyne Cycle & Pedestrian Tunnels join the communities of Howdon and Jarrow on the north and south banks of the river Tyne. Commuters traveled 900 feet (274 meters) daily to get to work at nearby shipyards. It’s still in use today as it forms part of the C2C cycle route running from coast to coast across the north of England.
Photo Nothing to See Here
When they were built, they were the longest single-rise escalators in the world at 197 feet (60 meters). Today they are still the longest wooden ones in the world. Built by Waygood-Otis, they have a solid charm for which each of the 306 steps are numbered and stamped.
The Tyne Tunnel is a two-lane toll vehicular tunnel under the River Tyne, England, completed in 1967. The tunnel is one of three forming the Tyne Tunnel project. Less well known are the pedestrian and cyclists’ tunnels opened in 1951. The tunnels are about 18 miles (11 kilometers) downstream and to the east of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Sources: Nothing to See Here and Wikipedia
Spiral Escalators
Spiral escalators take up much less horizontal space than straight escalators. However, early spiral designs were failures. A spiral escalator constructed by Reno in conjunction with William Henry Aston and Scott Kietzman at London’s Holloway Road Underground station in 1906 was dismantled almost immediately upon its completion. The Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed successful commercial designs and has manufactured curved and spiral escalators since the 1980s.
Yokohama MinatoMirai escalator Wikipedia
Times Square Photo Wikipedia
Ceasars Palace Photo Mitsubishi Headquarters
Noteworthy sets of spiral escalators are located in the Westfield San Francisco Centre in San Francisco, California, and at Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Times Square shopping mall in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, also features four curved escalators, as does Wheelock Place in Singapore.
The Times Square escalator has a bank of four spiral escalators, each of which turns through about 180 degrees.
Sources: Answers.com and Wikipedia
Copyright 2007 Life in the Fast Lane
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The escalator at Angel Tube Station, Islington is quite daunting when you first see it as it’s usually packed solid in both directions
As long as you’re sober it’s ok though
Real problems occur when you have something like the King’s Cross fire, which was quite devastating.
That’s the umeda sky building, located in Osaka
. The escalator story is like bullshit I think, since the building is not even 200m if I’m not mistaking, no way for the escalator to be longer than the ocean park escalator then 
.
Shudder the thought of something happening like the King’s Cross Fire. I read that the stairs and sides were constructed of wood.
Thanks for your help Slevi
It’s exactly as you stated, the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, Japan, 568 feet (173 meters) tall. I’ll update this info shortly, I just need to find a couple more references to ensure the accuracy of what I found for height.
You’re welcome, always glad to help out
.
As for king’s cross fire not just were they constructed out of wood but it probably also started due to one of the most shameful reasons of a fire starting, namely a person throwing a cigarette into the thing.
The real reason why king’s cross fire was so devastating though was because it created some form of a huge fireball, something which would rarely happen on other escalators. Discovery channel has dedicated a great documentary to it explaining all the physics details with animations and stuff, it shows into quite great depth as to what happened that day.
Wow Deborah…
you would need to take a packed lunch with you on some of these……that Caesars Palace is a knockout !!!!!
Fantastic post !!!!
We have some rather long rides in my hometown and I know how dizzy I feel going down. Can just imagine what a ride on one of these would be like
To think that so many people lost their lives due to carelessness like that goes beyond words Slevi. Thanks for the info.
Thanks Kim, I thought that Ceasar’s Palace was very impressive myself
Some shots definitely appear to have a dizzying effect, especially for those with fear of heights Jason. At least they wouldn’t be ‘fast’ which is what would scare the crap out of me
Very interesting. Especially spiral escalators – not seen such. I would like to ride
Wow! This is a massive post, could it be the world’s longest blog post? LOL!!
Thanks for always posting such interesting stuff, really show me what other parts of the world had to offer!
I’ll stumble it!
Great to hear that you found it interesting, Sidewinder, thanks
Haha, it is one of my longer posts. Thanks Betshopboy
[...] Torbay Council’s road safety team created the world’s first zebra crossing crossing on the public walkway to make it clear where the penguins cross [...]
There ia a curved or spiral escalator at the Hilton Hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
There is a very long one in the Budapest metro – I was surprised not to see it listed.
Check out this North Korean escalator:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/North_Korea/photo483256.htm
It goes on so far you can barely see the end.
Some guys (notably Daniel Wu who is a film star in Hong Kong) did something not quite dissimilar to the guys who skied.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj5CXLiSRno
There’s also a very long escalator at the CNN center at the bottom of the Omni hotel in Atlanta.
Wow that’s long escalator.
And also longest post for longest escalator.
A Moscow Metro sentence
has miles/kilometers mixed up.
449 miles != 278.8 kilometers, but
449 kilometers is about 278 miles…
Mak, Palsci, Mike, Kevin and Michal, thanks for your info, I’ll update this as soon as I get the chance from what you’ve given me.
Haha, it is a long post, and about to get even longer Webee
Thanks for pointing out my typo David, I’ve fixed it
Somebody told me today that the longest escalator in the world is in Chongqing, China. Is this true?
Apparently the escalators in Chongqing, China are about 800 meters (2627 feet) long, taking a total of 20 minutes from start to finish. But rather than being one long escalator that takes you 800 meters up, it’s numerous smaller escalators that equate the total distance, Hugo.
THIS IZ AMAZING ITS MY FIRST TIME TO SEE THIS!!!!! i never thougth that its possible to have a circle escalators. but im amazed too with those passangers that is riding the eselator!!!
It was the first time I had seen them myself when I researched this, Pepperju. The escalators at Ceasar’s Palace are quite glamorous.
i love escalator at ceasar’s palace. really amazing!!
elegant and glamour..>> my first impression.
[...] world, each 126 meters in length and having 740 steps. A ride upward takes about three minutes. http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/worlds-longest-escalator/offbeat-news copy Supplement from 07/30/2008 [...]
I have been on the Wheaton station escalator in DC and it was literally one of the scariest experiences of my life. It really does take almost 3 minutes from start to finish. we all had to sit down because the vertigo was so bad. Thanks for posting all of this!
Good God! That’s one long elevator, I wonder what the electric bill is like for that thing!
65 of 219 escalators of St. Petersburg (Russia) have height of rise 65 m, and the “highest” escalators in the city are established at the stations “Lenin Square” and “Chernyshevskaja” – vertical height is 65,8 m (length 131,6 m); quantity of steps is 755; length of each handrail is 290 m
also see Elevator world 02,2003
The spiral escalator image particularly caught my attention. It is more like the fabled mazes we get to hear about in fairy tales. Though I haven’t been on any of these, nonetheless hope to be a part of this rare experience. Thanks for sharing!!
That’s the first time that I have ever seen an Escalator with bends and curves. I always thought that they only went straight (lol).
It is so long escalator…I imagine that I walking there. I’m afraid
The longest in the world is actually Park Pobedy on the Moscow Metro. See this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfodkYoxxtE
I am very happy to see such a building, continued to update the contents of this website. This is the miracle of the world, in the field of architecture
.-= cars modified´s last blog ..HYUNDAI GENESIS COUPE 2-0TR-SPEC 2010 =-.
Great article about escalator around the world , it wierd to imaging how it work especially bending and curve Escalators.I wish the electric never get down and no feets trapped.:)