The $45BN New Railway Beneath Paris

though hard to tell from the surface paris is currently undertaking one of the largest and most ambitious infrastructure schemes anywhere on earth with four new automated metro lines running through 200 kilometers of tunnels the grand paris express will double the size of the city's existing metro move an additional 2 million people each day and cement the french capital as a leader in sustainable development this is the 45 billion new railway beneath paris [Music] with more than 11 million residents the greater paris area is easily the largest and most densely populated region in france you'd have to combine the populations of the next 13 largest cities in the country to rival the capital size in recent decades the popularity of the city has made living in its center unaffordable for most and grown its suburbs significantly while paris does have a world-class metro many older networks were not designed with the suburbs in mind and its designers assumed that the further a train was from the city centre the less crowd that it would become with more people travelling in each day the network was quickly approaching capacity on some lines a problem made worse by the fact that paris has no circle or ringlines which bypass the busy core for passengers who would rather avoid unnecessary trips through the very centre of the city to alleviate this the grand paris express was proposed in 2007. the railway would better connect to the suburbs with the city's airports business centres and science hubs without the need to travel through paris itself the project will increase the capacity of the metro effectively take 150 000 cars off the roads and create 55 new housing and development sites around the city many featuring green space and well-connected neighborhoods with a revised cost of 45 billion us dollars which is around 38 billion euros the grand paris express will be a fully automated rail system with four new orbital lines constructed around the city with extensions made on two of the network's existing lines to connect with the new tunnels in total 68 new stations were built along the route and more than 200 kilometers of tunnels will be boarded beneath paris doubling the size of the existing network and enabling an additional 2 million passenger journeys each day by 2026 since construction began in 2015 works have been progressing on each of the new lines and extensions simultaneously the project is set to complete and come online in stages between 2020 and 2030 unlike the construction of early metro lines which saw large sections of avenues dug up and reinstated 90 of works to construct the grand paris express occur underground reducing years of noise and disruption to just a few select sites the contrasts with the past don't end there while metro tunnels were historically dug by hand at peak paris new railway will be constructed by 21 tunnel boring machines or tbms carving their way through 10 to 15 meters of rock and soil each day to form the new tunnels around the city while the metro tunnels of the early 1900s sat just 10 meters or so below ground the tunnels for the grand paris express sit 30 to 40 meters beneath the city avoiding more than 100 years worth of underground utility infrastructure such depth makes each of the railways 68 new stations a highly complex construction project in its own right and engineers are effectively building a 10-story structure below ground in many instances to reach their boring depth the tbms are lowered in pieces down pre-built shafts along the root of the tunnel before being fully assembled below ground the tbms then excavate support and line the tunnels with concrete as they move forward leaving behind a safely completed tunnel ready for the mechanical electrical and computer systems to be installed though it hadn't been awarded when initial planning for the grand paris express began the announcement in 2017 that paris would host the olympic games in 2024 created a critical milestone for the project while it's almost impossible to complete such an ambitious scheme in under a decade the railway's phased opening means that come 2024 large portions of the network will be operational and ready for use despite a delay in completing one of the tunnel extensions due to flooding and the uncertainty created by the pandemic there are currently no plans to delay the project's completion beyond 2030 millions of people boosting the french economy and cutting emissions this 45 billion railway that few people can currently see is said to have a huge impact on paris a remarkable feat of engineering that once again demonstrates the power of construction [Music] if you enjoyed this video and would like to get more from the definitive video channel for construction subscribe to the b1m

Channel: The B1M

Views: 768,762

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, paris, france, europe, train, rail, railway, metro, subway, track, tram, automated, megaproject, tunnel, tbm, grand paris express, paris metro, crossrail, hs2, inside london's £18BN new railway

Id: ZjuMcWwMqPk

Length: 5min 30sec (330 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 28 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/burden_h]

Le Crossrail

[u/cthulhuhentai]

Wow, comparing this timeline—2030—to what’s happening in LA is dismaying.

LA has a small portion of this project being built, only a few lines, and their goal is also 2030...which looks like it won’t be reached due to delays. And there’s the planning of an additional line (the Crenshaw extension) that even though it’s being planned now, doesn’t expect to open until 2040-2045. Jesus, sure wish we had the same efficiency as Paris.

[u/reddbunny1370]

I love the B1M's videos, a lot of great urban infrastructure content in addition to civil engineering feats in general.

[u/[deleted]]

enviously watching from america

[u/pratikt]

incredible how far ahead some of these european countries are than the US in terms of sustainable infrastructure development. this looks amazing.

[u/Metroid_Zard]

Very interesting. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.