Rome public transport: the escalator which led to the eight-month closure of the recently-reopened Repubblica metro station is still broken.

The escalator which caused injury to dozens of Russian football fans at Rome's Repubblica station last October is still out of action, despite the station being closed to the public for the last eight months.

The escalator in question remains cordoned off with security barriers, along with the adjacent escalator, following the reopening of the station on 26 June after a closure of 246 days.

The news has led commuters to ask why only four of the six escalators at Repubblica are functioning, and what has been happening at the Metro A station during the last eight months.

The accident in October occurred when one of the station's escalators failed, causing it to accelerate excessively, dragging down dozens of people at speed.

Traders in the area, which includes the shopping street of Via Nazionale, claim they have lost 70 per cent of their business in the last eight months.

Photo Il Messaggero