Grand Paris Express is changing the world of transportation through this artistic engineering marvel!
There are 2 immediate problems with the Parisian transport system. One of them is that this system was built more than 100 years ago. This means that the dense mesh of trains, trams, and buses laid out by Georges-Eugène Haussmann in the late 19th century, is no longer compatible now. As the population of Ile de France has tripled over the last century, space on land became limited causing property prices to rise. This forced more and more people to relocate 30-40 kilometers (18-25 mi) outside of the city and live in areas with fewer transport connections. That means that a large part of the population can’t take advantage of bicycle sharing, car sharing, driverless trains, or electric buses.
They also can’t travel between suburbs easily because most train lines go straight into Paris. Missing a suburban train can mean waiting a half hour or more for the next ride to work. While the roads and highways are generally well-maintained, the trains could make use of some upgrades. More and more residents complain about the frequent train delays and even cancellations. Although Paris has a regional express network, or RER, with five lines and 587 kilometers (364 mi) of rails connecting the city to the distant suburbs, there’s no widespread network available.
But it seems like Paris is finally taking definitive steps to resolve these issues in the form of a $45 BN (€38 BN) transport project. Known as the Grand Paris Express, it aims to double the size of the existing Metro. It’s currently Europe’s largest transport infrastructure project and the fourth largest on the planet. What exactly is this project about? Can it solve the issues of a metropolis already overburdened by foreign tourists?
Watch this video till the end to find out! If you’re new to this channel, kindly hit the subscribe button to watch 2 videos weekly.
The Grand Paris Express will add 200 kilometers (120 mi) of tracks and 68 new stations. It is projected that it will serve 2 million passengers a day. Under its name, 4 new metro lines namely 15, 16, 17, and 18 will be constructed while the existing lines of 11 and 14 will be extended.
The idea is to better connect distant Paris suburbs to the city and each other—and in so doing, improve the commercial viability of its connected neighborhoods, business districts, and municipalities. 30% of it is being financed by Societe du Grand Paris while the remaining 70% is by the local authorities through earmarked taxes, subsidies, and loans. Given the sheer scale of this project, there will be a big environmental cost as a result of its construction. But, once in operation, the project is expected to become a very powerful saver of carbon, which is why Harvard University awarded it the 2023 Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design. For context, it is expected to reduce 14.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Line 14, considered the backbone of the network, is being extended towards its north and south.
Line 14 north extension included the development of an additional 5.8km-long (3.6 mi) tunnel featuring four new stations from Saint-Lazare to Mairie de Saint-Ouen. The extension became operational in December 2020. It will be extended further to connect with the upcoming Lines 15, 16, and 17 by 2024
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As the great writer Ernest Hemingway once remarked: “There are only two places in the world where we can live happily: at home and in Paris”. Paris, otherwise known as the City Of Lights, is a heavily romanticized spot with major films and events occurring around the year within its
Confines. Every year millions of people flock to this destination. A 2023 estimate showed 44 million tourists traveled to Paris, making it the most visited city. But beyond the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, and croissants, it’s a real city with real problems. One of them is getting around! Île-de-France is a 12,012 km² land
That surrounds Paris and boasts a population of 12 million residents. A comparison[a] among six different countries found that Paris is the most congested city on the continent, followed by London and then later on Ruhrgebiet in Germany. More than eight million trips are made
Daily on Paris’s transport network. Generally, Ile de France drivers spend more time in traffic compared to drivers in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Paris traffic problems had their roots more than a century ago. In 1894, there were only
200 cars on the roads in France, then 3000 in 1900, 10,000 in 1903 and 50,000 in 1910. The year 1920 oversaw an explosive increase in the number of vehicles by 150%, and by 1935 there were over 2 million vehicles on the roads. The air quality deteriorated severely in 2015 with
Paris recording the 9th highest death due to air pollution among major cities globally. There are 2 immediate problems with the Parisian transport system. One of them is that this system was built more than 100 years ago. This means that the dense mesh of trains,
Trams, and buses laid out by Georges-Eugène Haussmann in the late 19th century, is no longer compatible now. As the population of Ile de France has tripled over the last century, space on land became limited causing property prices to rise. This forced more and more people to relocate 30-40
Kilometers (18-25 mi) outside of the city and live in areas with fewer transport connections. That means that a large part of the population can’t take advantage of bicycle sharing, car sharing, driverless trains, or electric buses. They also can’t travel between suburbs easily
Because most train lines go straight into Paris. Missing a suburban train can mean waiting a half hour or more for the next ride to work. While the roads and highways are generally well-maintained, the trains could make use of some upgrades. More and more residents complain about the frequent
Train delays and even cancellations. Although Paris has a regional express network, or RER, with five lines and 587 kilometers (364 mi) of rails connecting the city to the distant suburbs, there’s no widespread network available. But it seems like Paris is finally taking
Definitive steps to resolve these issues in the form of a $45 BN (€38 BN) transport project. Known as the Grand Paris Express, it aims to double the size of the existing Metro. It’s currently Europe’s largest transport infrastructure project and the fourth largest on
The planet. What exactly is this project about? Can it solve the issues of a metropolis already overburdened by foreign tourists? Watch this video till the end to find out! If you’re new to this channel, kindly hit the subscribe button to watch 2 videos weekly.
The Grand Paris Express will add 200 kilometers (120 mi) of tracks and 68 new stations. It is projected that it will serve 2 million passengers a day. Under its name, 4 new metro lines namely 15, 16, 17, and 18 will be constructed while the existing
Lines of 11 and 14 will be extended. The idea is to better connect distant Paris suburbs to the city and each other—and in so doing, improve the commercial viability of its connected neighborhoods, business districts, and municipalities. 30% of it is being financed by
Societe du Grand Paris while the remaining 70% is by the local authorities through earmarked taxes, subsidies, and loans. Given the sheer scale of this project, there will be a big environmental cost as a result of its construction. But, once in operation, the project is expected to become
A very powerful saver of carbon, which is why Harvard University awarded it the 2023 Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design. For context, it is expected to reduce 14.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Line 14, considered the backbone of the network, is
Being extended towards its north and south. Line 14 north extension included the development of an additional 5.8km-long (3.6 mi) tunnel featuring four new stations from Saint-Lazare to Mairie de Saint-Ouen. The extension became operational in December 2020.
It will be extended further to connect with the upcoming Lines 15, 16, and 17 by 2024. The south end of this line will also provide a connection to Orly Airport, one of two airports in Paris. The most important of these lines would be Line 15 which will encircle the city and is
Divided into east, west, and south sections. As a high-capacity underground rail line, it provides a new ring line around Paris in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, and Seine-Saint-Denis. It will enable direct journeys between the suburbs, bypassing central Paris.
Line 15 is planned to open in phases from 2025 through 2030 while east and west sections are expected to be operational by 2030. One of the stations on this route, Villejuif-Gustave Roussy station, is designed by Perrault Architecture. The station is located
At an incredible depth of 50 m (164 ft) creating a massive, multi-level cylinder of open-air space bathed in natural light. Villejuif-Gustave station will also feature its custom artwork, created by Chilean artist Ivan Navarro, who works with light and optical
Illusions. Once completed, the station would be no less than a spectacle. With 2 overlapping glass ceilings allowing in natural light, the multistorey tunnel would be facilitated by several escalators for getting travelers down to the base level. And if you look at its design, it
Looks no less than a set from a Bond movie. Grand Paris Line 16 is a 46.67km (29 mi) long line with ten stations between Saint-Denis Pleyel to Noisy-Champs. A section of Line 16 between Saint-Denis Pleyel and Clichy-Montfermeil is expected to be operational by the end of 2026,
While the remaining section till Noisy-Champs will be commissioned by 2028. With the news that Paris will be hosting the 2024 Olympics, it has put significant pressure on the authorities to deliver it way ahead of time or at least some portion of it. Then President François Hollande
As well as his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy promised to make some portion operational in time, long before the city even won its Olympic bid. The promised portion included a full line 14, plus a partial opening of lines 15, 16, 17, and 18, which together connect to both Paris international
Airports. But when you are handling a project as massive as this, delays are inevitable. The Grand Paris Express is no exception and has experienced multiple delays over the years. Some of them were beyond their control. Floods, delays in equipment delivery, and perhaps most crucial of
All, the Covid pandemic have slowed the progress. And eight months before the 2024 Olympic Games, only the extension of line 14 to Orly Airport is expected to open in time. The other lines will gradually come on line starting in late 2025, according to the project’s official website.
However, the French Transport Ministry has still some progress to show. According to them, the new rail lines will increase the transport capacity by 15% just in time for the game. This will come in very handy as millions of people are expected to turn up to an already popular summer spot.
Interestingly, Paris’s first-ever metro was inaugurated in 1900 just before the Olympic games. Line 1, which opened on 19 July 1900, connected the Porte de Maillot to the Porte de Vincennes and provided a service to the summer Olympic Games organized in the Bois de Vincennes. Parisians
Fell in love with this new mode of transport and its success resulted in additional rail tracks that would leave no point in Paris more than 500 m (1600 ft) away from a metro. It was among the
World’s first cities to have a metro system. Let’s return to the new Express metros and take a quick look at their features. The average speed of the trains operating on the Grand Paris Express will be between 55km/h (34 mph) and 65km/h (40 mph). The trains will also feature LED lighting,
Lights beneath the seats, USB sockets, internet connection, and space for wheelchairs, and strollers. There will also be video surveillance to ensure security and prevent incidents. The important spaces in the train will be marked with distinctive colors. That’s not the best part yet! The trains will be driverless and will include electric service breaking.
As sustainability has become the forefront of every project in France, the Grand Paris trains consume less energy while also having effective heating, cooling, and ventilation systems. But let’s not forget, it’s France we are discussing, and as usual, art comes first!
The Grand Paris Express will also be reflective of its rich cultural history. The Grand Paris Society decided to allocate a portion of its budget, roughly €35 million, to commission contemporary art for each station – creating a vast, connected gallery, made available to everyone with a subway
Ticket. It’s a fantastic combination of art and architecture that is planned for each of the 68 stations. This takes us to the past when Hector Guimard, a prominent figure in architecture, designed the iconic metro entrances. The previous RER trains that served the suburbs
Surrounding Paris also got a gorgeous makeover. The RER C train, which transports passengers from the city to the Palace of Versailles, has been decorated on the inside with a plastic film featuring fountains, flowers, and furnishings from the palace and its grounds. [d] Nothing
Better than a Versailles-themed train to take you to the Palace of Versailles. The new Grand Metro will reduce the number of cars on the streets, thereby reducing traffic congestion and pollution. Another way Paris is doing that is by encouraging more and more
People to bike instead of drive. In 2007, Paris introduced Vélib’, a successful bicycle-sharing program. It now offers about 14,500 bicycles at 1,230 stations. Paris has been increasing its bicycle lanes since the late 1990s, and now has about 700 kilometers (434 mi)
Of bicycle routes. Moreover, the city is also expanding electric bus lines. The goal is to make 80 percent of buses electric by 2025 and the rest will use biogas. Paris already has one all-electric line served by 23 buses. That’s not all! Autolib’;
An electric car-sharing service offers 4000 fully electric cars in the Paris region. It has 100,000 registered users ever since beginning in 2011. These strategies seem to be working as more and more Parisians are ditching cars and switching to greener transportation modes. The streets
Are finally reclaimed from the dozens of cars, choking out fuel and engulfing the beautiful city. Residents can now finally take a sigh of relief and enjoy the stunning views the city has to offer. Do you think the Grand Paris metro can solve the traffic issues of this city? Comment
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