Train passengers forced to climb stairs as lifts break for 60th time

Monday, 8 December 2025 15:37

Transport for NSW has now employed a novel solution at Epping Station to ease the struggle.

Passengers at one of Sydney's busiest train and metro stations have been left to climb dozens of stairs after its two lifts broke down again.

Transport for NSW has now employed a novel solution at Epping Station to ease the struggle.

Like sherpas on Everest, baggage handlers bear the load for struggling passengers.

Passengers at one of Sydney's busiest train and metro stations have been left to climb dozens of stairs after its two lifts broke down again.

It's Sydney Trains' answer for lifts that have been broken for weeks, leaving locals fuming.

"We have to climb up 35 steps up and then another 35 steps down," one traveller said.

Lifts on both sides of busy Beecroft Road have been breaking down for years - 60 times in the past two years alone.

Even with help, negotiating the stairs can be precarious, and the struggle for many is all too plain to see - that's something the baggage handlers can't help with.

Transport for NSW has now employed a novel solution at Epping Station to ease the struggle.

"My old man's about 82 and he's struggling. So we had to come here the other day and he had to walk up the stairs all on his own and he was doing it tough," one local said.

Another said: "The baggage handlers only operate between 7am and 6pm on weekdays, 9am to 5pm on weekends, so outside of those hours, you're pretty much on your own."

Epping is a major transport hub with both heavy rail and metro, making it an essential stop for thousands each day.

So why are the lifts failing so often?

"We've heard vandalism, apparently, that's not very obvious to me," local MP Monica Tudehope said.

"It just looks like the government's relying on very ongoing repairs rather than replacing the lift, which hasn't been done since 2005."

Transport for NSW said it was expediting repairs but with replacement parts coming from overseas, that's unlikely until the end of January.