A BOTCHED upgrade of escalators at several northern suburbs train stations – that left three not working for 18 months – is finally on track.

The Public Transport Authority said the Stirling station escalator began operating on Tuesday, after a year and a half spent out of service.

Escalators at Warwick and Whitfords stations have also been non-operational for 18 months but PTA spokesman David Hynes said repairs had finished and they would run “pending final approval”.

The facilities have been plagued by problems since a $7.1 million lift and escalator upgrade program at Joondalup line stations was completed in 2016.

Camera Icon Photo: Wikipedia Credit: Supplied / Supplied

Mr Hynes said a mechanical issues caused the outages that followed the refurbishment.

“The escalators on the Joondalup line have not performed to our expectations, and we have made this clear to the supplier,” he said.

“An agreement has been reached that the issues will be rectified at the cost of the supplier, not the PTA.

“We also negotiated a service contract that should improve the ongoing performance of the escalators.”

Camera Icon The broken escalator at Warwick train station. Credit: Supplied / Martin Kennealey

He refused to say how much was spent on legal fees to reach the agreement but information on Tenders WA showed a $350,000 contract for legal support services for the escalator upgrade project was awarded to Clayton Utz Lawyers in 2018.

Company KONE signed a $3.7 million three-year contract in 2012 to upgrade the Joondalup line and Perth station escalators and inked an eight-year preventative maintenance agreement for the same facilities in August 2019 worth nearly $2 million.

Warwick station was hit with problems in 2017 and at the time, Mr Hynes said the escalator suffered a mechanical failure and the PTA was awaiting a specialist part from China.

In December 2018, the Whitfords escalator stopped working and Mr Hynes told radio station 6PR at the time the refurbishment program “did not go well”.

The remaining escalators at Joondalup, Glendalough and Perth Underground stations will be shut down for refurbishment and expected to be up and running mid-next year.