Simply known as "the Metro", Paris' subway system opened its
first line in 1990. As of 2009, it covers 215 km and has 16 lines and
301 stations, most of
which are underground. It is considered the second
busiest subway system in Europe after Moscow. In January 2011, a scheme for expanding the metro was announced by the French government. The plans call for an automated metro circling the suburbs and connecting with existing metro lines totaling 200 km.. This Metro Grand Paris plan will be the first metro lines that go outside the Paris city limits. Other included improvements would be modernization of existing metro and RER infrastructure. Costing over 32 billion Euros, the French are hoping to get a loan from the Greeks.
Lines 1, 4, 6, 11 and 14 use rubber tires. Most of the lines were built
using cut and cover, and so follow the main roads. The Paris metro is
also known for having stations paced at close distance to one another.
Paris has 4 tramways, lines T1
through T4, with T8 under construction
and due to open soon. Several extensions are underway and in the
planning stages. Because metro expansion is limited (the metro was
designed to operate only within the central city boundaries), the tram
was a Godsend to RATP. None of the tram lines intersect, although that will change soon when an extension to T3 will allow transfers to T2..
T1.
Paris LRT (Isle
de France) The Saint-Denis
Bobigny LRT line is 11 km long, it serves 26 stations and
carries more than 80,000 passengers
daily . Commissioned in 1992, it was the first step of an overall
transport
plan to develop a
public transit
system inter-connecting suburban areas around Paris. T1 has the only subway stop in the light rail system at station La Defense.
T2.
Paris (Tram Val-de-Sein) T2 started with an 11.3 km long tram line including 13
stations.
It runs on an existing track between Issy-Plaine and Puteaux and then
on
a new section between the station of Puteaux and that in the business
district
of La Défense. It entered service in July 1997 and carries
25,000
passengers daily. In November 2009, an extension consisting of 4 new stations opened, bringing the total stations on T2 to 17. The extension will connect Issy Val de Seine to Porte de Versailles
Tramway T4 is considered a tram-train, and is run by SNCF, the French national railways. It connects a series of villages with RER Lines B and E.
In February 2009, the Tangentielle Nord line was approved. The
28 km line will connect Sartrouville with Noisy-le-Sec (Seine Saint-Denis).
This will be
the 1st part of a round-Paris circular rail link.
Though a true commuter railway, much of Paris's RER lines resemble a metro. Many talk of how to define a metro, and purists often reject the RER as a partially underground commuter network because of the distances between stations. However, we beg to differ because other systems classified as "true" metros share the exact same charachteristics as the RER lines. It is a true metropolitan railway with subway sections using subway-like rolling stock.
