It’s one of the most beautiful and most historic undergrounds in the world, with art nouveau entrances, weaving tunnels and rattling lines which have been ferrying passengers around the city since 1900.
But Paris’ metro network, as charming as it is, is simply struggling to keep up with today’s passenger numbers. Each day it’s used by almost 4 million people, and it’s literally creaking under the weight of a growing city.
And it’s not just capacity that needs improving. The fourteen existing lines cross over lots in the city centre, but don’t do an efficient job of connecting suburbs with other suburbs. As it stands, journeying between Versailles and Saint Aubin, two neighbouring towns around 20km south of Paris, takes two hours on the bus.
Enter the Grand Paris Express. A whopping 200km-long system will add an outer ring to the city’s neighbourhoods, and include four new lines, two extensions and 68 dazzling new stations.
Not only is this good news for those living on the outskirts of Paris, it also aligns the city with other metropolitan hubs (such as Tokyo, Moscow and Washington DC) that are putting public transport at the forefront of development to protect the environment.
And construction is already well underway. Building work started way back in 2016 and according to the French Government, it’s the largest civilian infrastructure project in Europe. Wowzers.
But, it’ll come as no surprise that the Covid pandemic played a large role in holding up works on the new system, as well as construction site floods and delays in the delivery of crucial equipment.
Originally, it was hoped that all the lines would be complete by the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics, but that’s now estimated to be the case in late 2025. Officials are confident that the extension of line 14 (which is the connection to Paris Orly airport) will be complete by the opening ceremony, though, which should increase capacity by 15 percent.
On November 28, the first test ride was done of a new train (which are driverless, by the way) along a 2km stretch of line 15 at Champigy-sur-Marne railway depot. The debut was accompanied by a laser-light show and some celebratory music – how festive.
It’s a shame there’s still a while to wait for the whole system to be unveiled. However, with vast improvements to the connectivity of outer suburbs and a much more realistic capacity level, plus the added benefits to the environment, it sounds like the new system will be well worth the wait.
Did you see that Spain has launched a brand-new winter train service?
Plus: Vaping is likely to be banned next year in this European country.
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