Public transport in Greater Paris: an overview on extension projects

While waiting for the Grand Paris Express, the new driverless metro, public transport in Greater Paris is expanding significantly with new tramway lines and metro extensions.

The largest heavy transport project currently underway in Paris Region is “Eole“, the extension of RER line E, a suburban train line from its current terminus at Saint-Lazare to Mantes-la-Jolie, west of Paris. A first section as far as Nanterre is due to be commissioned in 2022, followed by the entire route in 2024. Overall, 55 km of tracks will be created or renovated and help alleviate congestion on RER line A, Europe’s busiest regional train line.

RER line E will be equipped with a new operating system (Nexteo) that will enable automatic train driving assistance and thus allow for more trains to run faster. 3.8 billion euros are being invested by the State, local authorities and SNCF (France’s national train operator) for a project which should eventually benefit 620,000 passengers daily.

Paris metro is also undergoing multiple extension works.

The most important one is metro line 14 which is due to move its northern terminus from Saint-Lazare station to Mairie de Saint-Ouen next September. By 2024, the line should reach Saint-Denis Pleyel hub and get connected with not less than 3 Grand Paris Express metro lines and other train lines. To the south, the route should make it possible to reach Orly airport, via Rungis International Market. In the end, new longer trains will make it possible to accommodate up to one million passengers per day.

Among other metro extension projects, several ones are already under construction.

Line 4, to the south, is due to reach Bagneux in mid-2021

Line 11, to the northeast, with six more stops should reach Rosny-Bois Perrier by 2023.

Line 12, to the north, should reach Mairie d’Aubervilliers by the end of 2021.

Line 1 should continue its route eastwards to Val de Fontenay, according to a timetable that has yet to be established.

Regarding tramways, several new lines are to be built in the coming years.

The first will be T9, which will link Porte de Choisy to Orly city and is scheduled to open at the end of 2020. 19 stations will serve 6 cities over 10 km in 30 minutes: Paris 13th, Ivry-sur-Seine, Vitry-sur-Seine, Choisy-le-Roi, Thiais and Orly. It will replace bus 183, which is used by nearly 60,000 people a day and is expected to accommodate 70,000 to 80,000. It is mainly funded by the French government, Paris Region and the Val-de-Marne département. It will be operated by Keolis.

By 2023, T10 will cover 8 km of the Hauts-de-Seine and 14 stations between Antony and Clamart. 25,000 passengers are expected each day. 351 million euros are needed to build its infrastructure, funded by Paris Region, the State and the Hauts-de-Seine département.

A new “tram-train”, Tram 12 express, is also under construction between Massy and Evry-Courcouronnes. 16 stations and 12 towns will be served to meet the demand of 60,000 passengers expected each day. It will be able to use the rail network (37 km/h average speed) compared with 25 km/h in urban areas. The infrastructure work, worth 526 million euros, is being carried out by Paris Region, the State, the Essonne département and SNCF group.

Work on Tram 13 express started at the end of 2019 between Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Saint-Cyr-l’Ecole (Yvelines département). It is nearly 19 km long and will run along the former western ring road, with a target date of 2021 for entry into service. This first part is valued at 306 million euros, mainly funded by Paris Region. The northern section, between Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Achères, is at a much earlier stage: completion of this 10.5 km route is estimated at 250 million euros.

Many tramway extensions are also under construction.

For T1 – which now links Asnières (Hauts-de-Seine) to Noisy-le-Sec (Seine-Saint-Denis) – extensions are planned to the east (Colombes first and later Nanterre and Rueil-Malmaison) and to the west (Fontenay-sous-Bois through Romainville, Montreuil and Rosny-sous-Bois). This new section aims to serve 50,000 travellers a day.

After reaching Porte d’Asnières at the end of 2018, the extension of T3 is underway in order to continue the tour of Paris towards Porte Dauphine. This 3.2 km-long extension, comprising seven stations, is scheduled to come into service by 2023. The cost of the project amounts to €165 million for the infrastructure.

T7, which runs from Villejuif to Athis-Mons (Val-de-Marne), is due to join the new multimodal hub of Juvisy-sur-Orge (Essonne). This project, worth 223 million euros, is to serve six stations along 3.7 km.

Tram 11 express, which links Epinay-sur-Seine to Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis) opened in July 2017. Plans are also underway for its two terminals, to reach Sartrouville (Yvelines) in the west and Noisy-le-Sec (Seine-Saint-Denis) in the east.

Last but not least, Paris Region’s new high-service buses, called TZen, will create new lines to replace saturated buses throughout suburban areas.

A first cable car in Paris Region

For a cost of 132 million euros, Cable A should directly serve more than 20,000 inhabitants and 6,000 jobs by 2024. This 4.5 km-long cable car line will cross highways, railways and waterways and link Bois-Matar to Créteil-Pointe du Lac (Val-de-Marne) in 17 minutes.

Originally published in Le Journal du Grand Paris (read French version here).