photo(s) Paris metro and other network

[NYCRailfan523]

Wow, nice photos! 

[Minato ku]

Thank you! 

 

 Place d'Italie

Place d'Italie is a big subway station with three lines (5, 6, 7) located in the southeast of central Paris. 

The platforms of line 5 opened in 1906.

Place d'Italie is the southern terminal stop of the line 5 but it wasn't always the case. Between 1907 and 1942 the line 5 was linking Etoile (see post #185) to Gare du Nord, Place d'Italie was at the center of the line.

Because of the numerous elevated sections in the west of the line compared with a mostly underground east, during the WW2 it was decided to transfer the western elevated section of the 5 to the small line 6.

This separated more the elevated and underground sections, causing less disruption in case of aerial bombing, the small line 6 (Place d'Italie - Nation) already had many elevated sections. This partially explains why the line 6 has almost half of its route elevated while all the other lines have much less.

With the further extension of line 5 to the northeast, this rerouting became definitive and today Place d'Italie is still the southern terminal station of line 5.

 

Place d'Italie station of the line 5 is inside a loop with 2 tracks and one island platform. 

Track map in this link 

 

Old MF67 and new MF01 trains.

This picture will soon be the past, all the MF01 for line 5 were delivered. It is just a matter of weeks before the full withdrawal of the MF67 of line 5.

Sorry for the quality of this picture

Because of its curved platforms, a gap filler has been tested in the station.

Today, the gap filler is still here but it doesn't seem to be working. I have taken this picture in fall 2009 when it was still working. 

 

Place d'Italie had 12,168,442 entries in 2011, this doesn't include transfer between lines.

[Minato ku]

  Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - Montigny-le-Bretonneux

The station is located in the western outer suburbs of Paris, in the new town of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. 

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - Montigny-le-Bretonneux opened in 1975 in Montparnasse suburban network.

The station became a terminal stop of the RER C in 1980.

 

Very 70's architecture.

Unlike what it may seem, the red skybridge don't link the platforms with the building, this is a public crossing over the tracks

The station is under the platforms.

A regional TER coming from Montparnasse passed through the station, it didn't stop here. Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines is only served by commuter train.

Those regional trains (TER) are not for Paris metropolitan area, these trains are managed by surrounding regions (Paris attracts workers from far).

Z 5600 of the RER C with a special violet livery made for the 70 years of the SNCF in 2007.

Z 8800 of the transilien line U, this line links La Verrière in the west side of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines with the big business district of la Défense in western inner suburbs. The  U is the only transilien without any stop in central Paris. 

[NYCRailfan523]

Wow these are nice photos. Sad to hear that those gap fillers in Place d'Italie ain't working anymore. 

[6 Lexington Ave]

Since you live in France can you tell me how does the Paris Metro perform in terms of reliability?

[Minato ku]

Well, this is not an easy question.

I will say that Paris metro has a quite good reliability, it works well but in an old and big network like this one, there is always some issues in one or two lines

Technical failures and many difficulties due to passengers, especially people in the track, abusive use of alarm and suspicious packages (because of terrorism threat, this is taken very seriously and the involved section is closed).

 

I posted this in April.

Performance of Paris metro line during rush hour

(January-December 2012) with a comparison with the same period in 2011.

This indicator provides the percentage of the actual number of train running in rush hour compared with the service ordered.

The worst performing line is the line 4 because of its old signaling system. There is a big water infiltration that damaged its signaling.

 

The line 13 has also a pretty poor reliability reputation, it is mainly because of its big branches.

The line 1 had a bad reliability reputation but its automation has resolved it.

Anyway even the "bad" lines work well most of the time.

 

In my opinion, the major issue of Paris metro is the lack of maintenance of public spaces.

A lack of cleaning and many escalators and turnstiles that don't work.

I am not proud to say that but Paris metro is easily one of the dirtiest in the world along with New York City subway.

Like New York City subway, we have a large homeless population in the metro and the other passengers are not necessarily the most respectful.

 

[6 Lexington Ave]

Thank you very much for the detailed response. I visited Paris for about a week in 2008. I mainly used Line 1 because I stayed in a hotel in La Defense. I loved the metro. I found it very reliable. Used it nearly every day. How did this water problem happen?

[NYCRailfan523]

Oh my.....

[Minato ku]

How did this water problem happen?

I don't know, the soil of Paris is full of groundwater. water infiltration is a big problem for Paris metro.

It can also be roadworks, there are plenty possible causes.

   ______________________________

 

Montparnasse - Bienvenüe, moving walkways

Montparnasse - Bienvenüe is one of the largest subway station of Paris with 4 lines, connected with a big railway terminal (Montparnasse) and with many exits.

This station is infact made of two stations that were separated until the end of the 1930's and the opening of the former line 14 (now line 13).

Montparnasse with the line 4 and 12 (northern side) and Bienvenüe (southern side) with the lines 6 and 13 (line 14 in the past).

To to create interchange between lines, a long corridor was built between both station in the end of the 1930's.

Montparnasse and Bienvenüe officially merged in one station in 1942 with a single name "Montparnasse - Bienvenüe".

 

As I said at the beginning Montparnasse-Bienvenue is also the station of Montparnasse train terminal.

Before the train station was located near the northern side of the metro station  but in the end of the 1960's Montparnasse station was demolised and moved to the south of the station.

Three moving walkways (one for each way and the central for the peak direction) were built to facilitate connections.

 

In 2002, the central walkway was replaced by a high speed one but this experimentation failed, now a conventional one stands instead

This corridor was very high tech ten year ago when I moved in Paris, full of flat screens showing advert, weather, movie trailer, news. It seems quite blank today.

 

 

 

 

Using this long corridor for interchange between metro lines is only useful for transfers between the line 13 and lines 4 or 12.

While the line 6 is located in the same side of the station that the line 13, the line 6 has other interchange stations with line 6 and 12 that are pretty close to Montparnasse

Nobody would use Montparnasse to transfer between line 4 and 6 because there are smaller Raspail and Denfert-Rochereau wich provide connection between the two lines, few stops away.

Pasteur, one stop after or before Montparnasse on line 6, provides connection with line 12

 

Anyway it is not useless because of the train station (and the very busy line 13), 110,000 people use this corridor everyday.

 

Other note, Bienvenüe is named after the civil engineer Fulgence Bienvenüe who is considered as the "Father of the Metro".

[NYCRailfan523]

That's one long corridor - thankfully there's a walkway. 

[Minato ku]

  Vavin

The station opened in 1910, it is located one station after Montparnasse only 300m away (0.2 miles).

Vavin has curved platforms and there is a quite tight curve in southeast of the station that trains take at a relatively high speed after they leave the station.

It is less the case with the MP89 but with the old MP59, people often fell after Vavin in southbound trains. 

 

An amusing fact: the Emporor Hirohito took the subway at this station in 1923 without paying.

The station chief asked him an autograph instead.   Note that he was alone, Hirohito really wanted to ride in the metro while visiting Paris. 

 

 

The station had 2,242,491 entries in 2011, making it the second last busy station of the line 4.

[NYCRailfan523]

At least the curve in Vavin is normal. In South Ferry (the old one), it needs gap fillers. But with a curvy track to the southeast of the station, at least they have new trains because people may fall off the train with the old trains. 

[Minato ku]

Heuliez GX427 Hybrid, the only one of the RATP network in test in line 91.

With the withdrawal of the Heuliez GX 317 (see post #60), it is now the only bus (excluded minibus) of the brand Heuliez in the RATP network.

 

The line 91 links Bastille with Montparnasse, this is the most segregated bus line in central Paris with most of its route separated of the car traffic or at least with heavier bus lanes than other lines.

Note that in inner Paris bus lanes are open to taxi cabs.

 

This line links several big railway terminals (Gare de Lyon, Gare d'Austerlitz and Gare Montparnasse) and it is one of the busiest.

The main stock of the line is the Irisbus/Renault Agora L.

 

At Bastille, the line 91 doesn't have bus lanes outside of its big terminal stop.

 

Next to a Irisbus/Renault Agora L in Montparnasse Boulevard. More exactly in Vavin, the same place as the metro station in my previous post. 

Same place with two Irisbus/Renault Agora L

This line has also tested the Irisbus Crealis 18

Now this bus irun on TVM line (see post #132) , the RATP has only ordered two of them for test.

They wanted to use this model for the line 393 (see post #26) but because this model was seen as too expensive without more advantage compared with the regular articulated bus of this brand (Irisbus Citelis 18), they didn't buy more.

 

[NYCRailfan523]

Wow, nice articulated bus. 

[Minato ku]

Thank you.

 

 Joinville-le-Pont

The first station opened in 1859, the station was located on the suburban line terminating in the former Bastille terminal.

The station was rebuilt in 1969 when the suburban services of Bastille were heavily modernized and transferred underground in Central Paris creating the RER.

 

Joinville-le-Pont has two island platforms and four tracks.

MS61 train eastbound entering in the station

MS61 train westbound

 

Joinville-le-Pont had 3,535,908 entries in 2011

 

[NYCRailfan523]

Oh my, that's some nice tilt I saw! 

[Minato ku]

 Arts et Métiers

Arts et Métiers is served by line 3 and 11, the platforms of the line 11 opened in 1935.

The station is named after the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts), doctoral degree-granting higher education establishment specialized on science and industry.

 

In 1994, for the bicentenary of this establishment, a new decors was put in the platforms of line 11.

The design is insipirated by the science fiction works of Jules Verne.

The station is nicknamed "submarine".

 

Arts et Métiers had 3,859,066 entries in 2011.

[Minato ku]

 Franklin D. Roosevelt

This station is located on the Champs Elysées and is served by lines 1 and 9.

Here it is the line 9 that will interest us.

At the beginning the platforms of the line 9 opened as a separate station named "Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées" in 1923.

It was close to "Marbeuf" station of the line 1 and because the line 1 and 9 didn't have a transfer point in the west side of both lines, a (long) corridor was built between the two stations in 1942.

The station took the name "Marbeuf - Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées" and in 1946 the name changed into Franklin D. Roosevelt.

 

Before the station had the average normal vaulted architectural style of Paris metro but in the end of the 1950's a new futurist decors was put in the platforms of line 1 and 9.

The line 1 platforms has lost its decors for the automation of the line but it partially remains in the line 9.

Partially because before this decors had stained glass called Gemmail, those were removed during the 2000's.

 

Currently, there is a exhibition about the lighting of Paris metro and the replacement of the lamps by led that is under way.

Two MF67 trains, new stock will soon come in line 9. The first commercial ride of the MF01 in line 9 will be in September with a new livery

 

Franklin D. Roosevelt before in 1952 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1957 when the new design was inaugurated

Post #138, I made a post about the "Oui Dire" renovation style and its former colored lighting that latter was abandoned because of the difficulty to maintain.

In this picture of Montparnasse Bienvenue line 12 platforms of 1990, you can see how it was.

 

Franklin D. Roosevelt had 12,640,577 entries in 2011

[NYCRailfan523]

Wow, these stations look more beautiful than the old "tiled vault" stations! 

[Minato ku]

 Franklin D. Roosevelt

To follow my previous post, this is now the platform of line 1 which was opened in 1900 with the name "Marbeuf", the rest of the story is in my previous post.

 

Like the platforms of line 9 during the 1950's, the usual vaulted style was changed into a more futurist style with stained glass.

During the end of the 2000's, this decors was removed leaving a station without any cladding for several years.

A white and pink cladd was tested but it failed to satisfy.

 

In 2011, the station become gold. It has a thematic around the gold with videos explaining the properties of this metal.

Information touch screens were also added.

 

 

 

[Minato ku]

MF01 new livery

The MF01 delivery for the line 5 is done and the delivery for trains for line 9 has begun but unlike the others these have a new livery.

The STIF is the organizing public transport authority for Greater Paris region, while it was quite unkow and invisible, the authority decided to be quite visible everywhere and are now imposing new livery where its name is quite visible with a grey color.

I wrote a post about it (post #35)

Unlike buses, suburban trains, the metro was spared until now.

 

This is the MF01 096, the first for line 9 and the first metro with the STIF livery in Bobigny yard on line 5. It is the official maintenance center for all the MF01 stock.

Unfortunately the train was quitte hidden by the MF1 048 when I decided to take picture.

New train will be tested on line 5 before the first service on line 9 planned for September.

The livery is like the livery of the MI09 (post #36  #45).

A grey horizontal strip has replaced the green one and there are green vertical strips on the doors.

    Fortunately our trains are graffity "proof",  liveries are stickers (lamination), it means that the graffiti can be easily removed. 

 

[realizm]

This thread is such an entertaining and educational read! It just gets better and better with the pics and supurb commentary.

[Minato ku]

Thank you

 

  Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis station opened in 1846 in the Paris Nord to Lille (big city in the north of France) line. 

At the begining the line was going to the northwest by passing in Ermont (northwestern suburb) before reaching Creil (an industrial commuter town north of Paris) and the north of France and Belgium. In 1859 a more direct route to Creil was open.

The older line is now only used by suburban services H , while the more direct route is used by intercity and RER train both in segregrated tracks.

 

Most of the trains departing of Gare du Nord pass through Saint-Denis (except the RER B and some regional services) but only the suburban trains stop there.

 

Saint-Denis station has eight tracks and seven platforms, one is unused because only the non stop trains passes here.

The transilien H has 4 platforms and the RER D has two platforms (more exactly an island platform with two tracks).

 

Z 50000 of the Transilien H leaving Saint-Denis

Z 50000 in station and a Z 20500 (Z 2N) of the RER D arriving.

 

 

In the island platform of the RER D 

Speaking of livery, we can see the new STIF/SNCF livery with grey and red (Z 5000) and the old blue livery of the suburban service of the SNCF (Z 2N).

When I say old, this livery is only 10 years old and it is still in used for some newly refurbished train.

Note that the blue livery is only visible on refurbished train, the previous livery was red/blue and white and this previous livery is still visible on many trains (post #130 by example).

It is rather messy.   

 

Saint-Denis is one of the busiest station in Paris suburbs and it is notoriously undersized for its passengers traffic.

A new ticket hall will be build in the west side of the station and the area around the station is curently under in redevelopment.

Few years ago, the are around the station was know to be one of the crack dealing hot spot in Paris area.

 

Saint-Denis is also served by the tram T1 since 1992, before the end of 2012 it was the western terminal stop of the line.

In the end of 2014, Saint-Denis station will become a tram hub with the opening of the line T8.

 

[Minato ku]

MF01 with new livery in service

As I wrote in the post #221 before their services on line 9, the new MF01 with new livery (096 and upward) are tested with passengers on line 5.

Today near 2pm, I was lucky to get on one of these trains.

I just waited a bit less than 10 minutes and three trains on each direction.    

 

The MF01 097 arriving at Richard Lenoir station

Place d'Italie

 

 

 

[NYCRailfan523]

Wow, nice livery!