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With E. Broadway escalator back in action, it’s easy riding

After 19 months of delays and several missed deadlines, the M.T.A. has finally gotten its escalator up and running at the East Broadway subway station.

Although the new escalator reportedly went out of service — due to electrical problems — just hours after at last being restarted on Feb. 20, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it now has those issues resolved, according to an announcement by local elected officials. As a result, Lower East Side residents, commuters and visitors the neighborhood can now once again use the F train station without climbing its tiresome, 81-step staircase.

“After far too many months, things are finally on the up and up for Lower East Side riders as our escalator returns to service,” said state Senator Daniel Squadron in the Feb. 24 announcement. “Thank you to the M.T.A. for finally heeding our calls, and to the community for standing together to make sure we were heard.”

“I expect that it will remain in service without any more lengthy interruptions,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver added, in his statement.

Joining Squadron and Silver in the announcement were U.S. Congressmembers Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velazquez, Borough President Gale Brewer and City Councilmember Margaret Chin. Last month the politicians, along with local residents, gathered outside the station, at the corner of East Broadway and Rutgers St., to push the M.T.A. to finish the job.

The escalator had been out of service since August 2012.

Sam Spokony