Paris Art Nouveau Metro sign

The Paris Métro is the metro (underground) system in Paris, France. It was originally known as the "Chemin de Fer Métropolitain" ("Metropolitan railway"), then "Métropolitain," quickly abbreviated to "Métro". Speakers of verlan call it "le tromé."

The system consists of 16 lines, identified by numbers from 1 to 14, with two minor lines 3bis and 7bis, numbered thus because they are branch lines split off from the original lines 3 and 7. It is the third longest metro in Western Europe, after the London Underground and the Madrid Metro.

Brief technical points:

• 213 km (132 miles) of track, over 300 stations
• circulation is on the right
• track gauge of 1.435 meters (standard gauge, like the French main lines) -- but trains are narrower than mainlines, so the Metro can run on mainlines but not vice versa
• power collection: third rail
• average distance between stations is approx 300 m (328 yards)
• lines 1, 4, 6, 11, and 14 are rubber-tired
• line 14 is driverless (fully automatic)

One single ticket price for any journey, unlimited connections, but limited to a 2-hour ride.

A second network of regional express lines, the RER (Réseau Express Régional) complements the network since the 1970s.

Existing lines

A familiar sight in Paris: tourists looking at a city map in front of a Métro entrance (here the Art nouveau entrance to the Cité station)

1: La Défense - Château de Vincennes

• First section opened July 19, 1900
  
• Converted to rubber-tired operation 1964
  

2: Porte Dauphine - Nation

• First section opened December 13, 1900
  

3: Pont de Levallois-Bécon - Gallieni

• First section opened October 19, 1904
  

3bis: Gambetta - Porte des Lilas

• Opened November 27, 1921 (then part of line 3)
  
• Detached from line 3 April 2, 1971
  

Inside the Métro, here at the Simplon station

4: Porte de Clignancourt - Porte d'Orléans

• First section opened April 21, 1908
  
• Converted to rubber-tired operation 1967
  

5: Place d'Italie - Bobigny-Pablo Picasso

• First section opened June 2, 1906 (some sections opened earlier are now part of line 6)
  

6: Charles de Gaulle-Étoile - Nation

• First section opened October 2, 1900 (then part of line 5)
  
• Converted to rubber-tired operation 1974
  

7: Villejuif-Louis Aragon/Mairie d'Ivry - La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945

• First section opened November 5, 1910
  

7bis: Louis Blanc - Pré-Saint-Gervais

• Opened January 18, 1911 (then part of line 7)
  
• Detached from line 7 December 3, 1967
  

A train in the Palais Royal / Musee du Louvre station

8: Balard - Créteil-Préfecture

• First section opened July 13, 1913
  

9: Pont de Sèvres - Mairie de Montreuil

• First section opened November 8, 1922
  

10: Boulogne-Pont de Saint-Cloud - Gare d'Austerlitz

• First section opened July 13, 1913 (then part of line 8)
  

11: Châtelet - Mairie des Lilas

• First section opened April 28, 1935
  
• Converted to rubber-tired operation November 8, 1956
  

12: Mairie d'Issy - Porte de La Chapelle

• First section opened November 5, 1910 (as part of Nord-Sud line A)
  

13: Châtillon-Montrouge - Gabriel Péri-Asnières-Gennevilliers/Saint Denis-Université

• First section opened February 26, 1911 (as part of Nord-Sud line B)
  
• First section opened by CMP December 30, 1923 (then part of line 10)
  

14: Saint-Lazare - Bibliothèque François Mitterrand

• First section (Madeleine - Bibliothèque François Mitterrand) opened October 15, 1998
  
• Saint-Lazare terminus opened December 16, 2003
  
• Olympiade terminus (instead of Bibliothèque) is to open in 2006.

Line 14 is fully automated. There are no drivers in trains. The platforms are separated from the tracks by transparents walls, and both the trains and platforms have doors that open automatically when the train is stopped, perfectly aligned with the doors.

An earlier line 14 Invalides-Porte de Vanves existed from July 29, 1937, when it was detached from line 10, to November 9, 1976, when it was incorporated into line 13.

See also: Stations of the Paris Metro

Architecture

Abbesses station - one of the art nouveau metro station entrances designed by Hector Guimard

One of the most famous aspects of the Paris metro are its wrought-iron art nouveau entrances by Hector Guimard, which have come to symbolize Paris although not very many remain in use (86 entrances by Guimard still exist).

History

Line 1 was inaugurated on July 19, 1900, after decades of political wrangling over routes and construction. Short sections of the present lines 2 and 6 (then numbered 5) were completed in the same year to serve the World's Fair.

The lines 1 through 10 where built by the Ville de Paris (City of Paris) and run by the CMP (Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris). It is thought that the name was after the Metropolitan Railway in London, which later became part of the London Underground.

A second company, "Nord-Sud" (Société du Chemin de Fer Electrique Nord-Sud de Paris) started up in 1910 and built two lines named A and B (now part of lines 12 and 13). "Nord-Sud" merged in 1930 with the CMP (line 11 and the "first" line 14 were completed after the merger). CMP became state-owned in 1948 and renamed RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens).

Accidents

• August 1903 Paris Metro train fire, caused by incompetence and panic, kills 84.

See also

• List of stations of the Paris Métro
• metro systems in other cities
• Transportation in France

References

• Bindi, A. & Lefeuvre, D. (1990). Le Métro de Paris: Histoire d'hier à demain, Rennes: Ouest-France. ISBN 2737302048. (French)
• Gaillard, M. (1991). Du Madeleine-Bastille à Météor: Histoire des transports Parisiens, Amiens: Martelle. ISBN 2878900138. (French)

External links

• Panoramic views of some of the most beautiful stations of the Paris Métro (http://www.insecula.com/salle/EP0689.html/,) (in French)
• Public transportations website, Paris urban community (http://www.metro-pole.net/,) (in French)
• General Paris Métro information (http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Paris_metro.shtml,)
• Map of the Métro and RER (http://www.ratp.fr/)