Escalator handrails loop endlessly in places like shopping centers and subway stations. They provide a surface for hands to hold while ascending or descending.
Regular maintenance once involved staff wiping these handrails. Cleaners applied solutions to the rubber belt and scrubbed it thoroughly each time it passed a cleaning station, repeating the process multiple times daily.
This upkeep occurred consistently during operating hours.
Those wiping and scrubbing actions have stopped.
The handrails continue their circuit, touched by countless hands throughout the day. They remain part of the escalator system in everyday operation.
Escalator handrails now exist without the prior cleaning maintenance.