The ORIGINAL Metro | Paris Metro Explained

we're finally doing it today's video will work to explain what is in my opinion potentially the world's greatest metro system the paris metro which has inspired rapid transit systems the world over and is among the most unique urban transportation systems out there in its own right the system already has 14 different primary lines with four more under construction and moves more than a billion and a half passengers every single year including through one of the largest metro stations in the world so let's set out and learn about the incredible paris metro [Music] this video could not be complete without a huge thank you to lewis and julian from paris who helped with clips for the video as well as with information for it if you're interested in helping with future videos about your city and any place around the world make sure to follow me on twitter for updates and consider supporting the channel on patreon oh and don't forget to check out my other explainers on cities like london and madrid paris is complicated and so to start this video out let's try to get situated with the urban context paris has several urban transportation systems and i eventually hope to have explainers for every single one including the incredible rer network which provides massive capacity by running large express mainline trains through the city and massive new tunnels akin to another project we recently visited a good starting point for a little tour around paris is to distinguish the central areas of the city within the periphery ring road and those outside of it we also have the sen which cuts across the french capital in an arcing shape in the northwestern quadrant of the city at the end of the champs-elysees we have the arc de triomphe and in the west of the center just to the south we have the champ de mars and the eiffel tower to the east roughly near the city's geographic center we have the famous louvre museum if you follow the city's northwest axis towards the arctic triomphe you reach the famous place de la concord and beyond the ark you eventually arrive at the city's modern business district la defos a kinder london's canary wharf beginning to look at the city's transportation hubs starting with the airports which include orly to the south which is currently served by tram t7 and connected to the rear via a people mover paris's much larger international hub airport chaldega is to the north of the city and is directly served by the rer as well as high speed trains moving into the city itself paris has six major intercity rail stations these include gerda nord in the northeast of the core which serves eurostar and tallest services to the uk and belgium as well as the netherlands alongside trains to other parts of france and western europe girderless is only a few hundred meters away from gear to north and serves trains to eastern france as well as other points east such as in germany and beyond gersten lazar is a smaller station closest to the geographic center of the city which serves a large number of commuter services as well as the historical business district and trains to the northwest of the country girder leon is in the southeast of the city near the scent and serves destinations like leon go figure as well as other destinations in the south of france the greater mediterranean as well as places like italy and spain to the west we have german parnasse which serves trains to the west of france and is quite famous for its much disliked adjacent tower and its less than impressive finishings the last major station we have is ger dosterlitz which is the destination for trains from central france as well as night trains and is located directly across the sand from gaudeleon a station of a different type worth mentioning is charles which serves a number of rer and metro lines forming one of the largest rapid transit interchange stations in the entire world now connecting these various and famous destinations are a web of metro lines so let's talk about them i've divided the lines into two groups based on whether they use the iconic rubber tire trains transit enthusiasts typically associate with the paris metro or more standard steel wheeled units which actually run on the majority of lines let's start with these steel wheel lines which as i said make up the majority both by raw number and track kilometers line two has 25 stops over about 12 kilometers of track forming a northern arc in central paris beginning in the northwest and ending in the east the line serves major destinations like the arc de triomphe and the line runs elevated along boulevard de la chapelle as it passes just north of georgia nord and geodest line 3 also serves 25 stops but over just less than 12 kilometers of track which are fully underground making it the densest main line of the system in terms of stops line 3 starts at the northwest edge of the central city beyond the periphery and near the sen and cuts across the city east-west north of the sen in the city's center to just east of the peripherique the line also connects to gersen lazar line 5 features 22 stops over roughly 15 kilometer route north south on the east side of the city which sees it run from the southeast of the city north connecting with gairdostolitz which it runs elevated through before crossing the sen on a bridge and diving back below ground the line then continues north to serve guerrers and gerda nord before sweeping east traveling beyond the periphery to the east north of line 3. line 7 is tied with line 8 for having the most stops for a line on the system with 38 stops over just 22 kilometers of fully underground track running from south of the periphery with two branches rather uncommon on this system to the northeast of the city the southernmost portion of the line is formed by those two parallel branches which come together just north of the periphery from here the line runs north and then turns east across the sun underground the line then continues along this end to connect to the southern end of charley leia as well as provide service to the famous louvre museum the line then arcs back towards the east to serve gerdelest and continues straight northeast to determine us beyond the periphery line 8 has 38 stops over 23 kilometers of track running from far south of the periphery to the west of the city in an arc the southernmost portion of the line is above ground and part of it even runs in the center of an access controlled highway south of the center the line also crosses the marn a tributary of the sen on a bridge the line then runs through the center paralleling line 9 for part of its route before crossing under the send to the west near place de la concord the line then runs between champ the mars and the military school before terminating near the periphery in the south west line nine has the second most stops on the entire paris metro with 37 over a little less than 20 kilometers the line runs fully underground east-west across the city from east of the periphery to the southwest near the scent around the middle of the route the line connects with gerson lazar the shared entrances with line 8 serve a dense recreational district where entry points are often as little as 50 meters apart line 10 has 11 and a half kilometers of track with 23 stops the line cuts across the south of the city east west and is entirely underground very uniquely for a rapid transit line there is a section of the western portion of line 10 where there is a split and a couple of stations only offer travel in a single direction the line terminates in the east at gear duster leads line 10 also has the least advanced signaling on the entire system now line 12 is fully underground and features 29 stations on 17 kilometers of track and is the most recently extended line on the system with the extension to marie doberry opening in may 2022 line 12 runs north south through the west central parts of the city with connections to san lazar as well as german planas line 12 notably has some very tight corners which can potentially pose safety hazards with overspeed trains such as to the north of notre dame de lauret and south of mark's dormois line 13 is currently the longest line on the paris metro at about 24 and a half kilometers long and with 32 stations line 13 parallels line 12 for much of its route running north south through the west of the city where it connects with german porn ass unlike line 12 line 13 extends further north and west with two branches at its north beyond the connection with gerson lazar the eastern branch runs beyond the periphery and nearer the stad de france while the western branch crosses the peripherique as well as the sen on a bridge line 13 was actually built as with other later metro lines to augment the rer network and provide similar services in this case connecting mob parnasse and san lazar more rapidly than line 12. the next group of lions are the iconic rubber tire running lines which are actually in the minority line 1 of the paris metro is the quintessential line of the system it's the most heavily used it's tied for the oldest with line 2 and unlike line 2 it has rubber tires the line serves 25 stops over 16 and a half kilometers of track running from the southeast to the northwest the line begins southeast of the periphery and runs straight northwest before diverging west at place de la nachon to connect to guer de leon where the line makes another turn to head north to place de la bastille where it once again turns west continuing parallel to the sen and serving chateleon continuing northwest the line also serves the louvre and place de la concord before running directly under the champs-elysees reaching the arc de triomphe the line diverts around it under the roundabout before continuing northwest passing the paraphrase and then popping above ground just before the send to cross into la defense above ground where it dives back below the surface and terminates line 4 is the second most heavily used line on the paris metro and like line 12 was extended in 2022 with the addition of two new southern stations bringing the line to 29 stations on its 14 kilometer fully underground route which runs north south connecting gerda nord gerdarest chateleo and germanparnasse line 4 is perhaps most notable for its excellent connectivity linking it to every other paris metro line as well as all of those very important stations line six is 13 and a half kilometers long with 28 stops forming a loop around central paris alongside line two line six being the southern half of the circle the line serves garamond parnass and has a number of elevated sections including twice passing over the ascent and once passed the eiffel tower above the streets below before terminating at the arc de triomphe line 11 is the shortest main line on the system at just over six kilometers in length but still manages to pack in 13 stations line 11 starts from chateleon in the center and continues eastward as a chord running past sancho pompidou and the famous structural expressionist building and eventually ending just east of the periphery line 14 is the newest line on the paris metro and exists as an express connector line it's fully underground and runs 14 kilometers with just 13 stations roughly double the standard station spacing on the metro system and very reminiscent to london's victoria line the line's also fully underground and runs from the northwest to the southeast paralleling line 1 as well as the intensely used line a of the rer and as such it was designed as an express relief line for both the line connects to gerolian chateleon and gerson lazar now as it turns out beyond the 14 main lines there are also two smaller bis lines which you might have heard of sort of like shadow lines seen in other cities with small trains and few stations but a little bit longer line three bis has the shortest trains on the network with three small cars on every train the line is only a little over a kilometer long and still has four stations connecting between line three and line eleven line three bis is entirely underground the line's existence is thanks to a historic re-routing of line three and thus its infrastructure is more substantial than it needs to be for the role it plays today there is also line 7bis which is a little longer than three best at roughly three kilometers with eight stations the line originally operated as a branch as part of line seven somewhat like on the western portion of line 10 the eastern portion of line seven bis is one directional operating as a loop as it turns out there are connecting tracks between lines three bits and seven bits and they were actually used in part to test rubber tire trains as well as advanced signaling systems using these tracks to combine the two lines into one has frequently come up and will probably eventually happen so the paris metro is very expensive already but as it turns out it's also getting what is likely europe's largest metro of expansion in the form of the dramatic grand paris express project which at one point will have used over 20 different tunnel boring machines these plans include a number of expansions to various lines as well as four major new lines at the center of these expansion plans is the new line 15. this project is being built in phases and when complete will form a 75 kilometer underground loop around the city likely making it the world's longest underground metro line the southern phase is the first part of the project which will later be followed by independent east and west projects to close the loop which yes isn't actually a loop though the track layout will allow every other train to operate in a circular pattern with trains alternating between the circle and the eastern branch as designed light 15 will intersect with most paris metro lines and all of the rer lines allowing riders to get around the city without going through the congested city center now in order to connect with line 15 the grand purse express project contains one main extension of existing line 14. another extension will extend line 11 further east with four new stations over 10 kilometers of track enabling an interchange with line 15 and the rer while line 14 is planned to be extended seven stations south on 14 kilometers of track to interchange with line 15 a future line 18 and connect to orley airport the grand paris express will also introduce more new lines line 16 and 17 will both start at san denis playa arguably the most important station on the grand purse express with service to the nearby stad de france and olympic sites for the 2024 paris olympic games connections to the nearby line 13 and rer and with lines 15 16 17 and 14 all connecting at one station line 14 will be extended one stop north to reach it from here line 16 and 17 will run to the northeast interlined until le bourget rear station where the lines will split with line 17 running to the northeast and eventually to schaldegaal airport finally connecting it to the metro network line 16 will run to the southeast connecting with line 15 and the rer both lines are said to be opened in phases interestingly all three of these new grand paris express lines will use the same rolling stock which is very similar to the de facto standard alstom metropolis train we're seeing on the rem sydney metro and other systems albeit within il de france mobility livery and interior design the trains will be 2.8 meters wide and will be composed of 18 meter carriages trains will run off overhead wire power and will be fully automated and will run it up to 110 kilometers per hour making those circumferential trips on line 15 particularly attractive the high speeds definitely earn the grandparents express the express name as average travel speeds will be comparable to the rar line 15 will have some of the highest capacity trains on the entire paris metro with walkthrough sets composed of six carriages while line 16 and 17 will have sets composed of three carriages part of the plans for the grand purse express also included line 18 which would run from orley airport west to versailles and would feature a later extension to the north forming a western arc through the suburbs mirroring line 16. the first phase of line 18 is set to be delivered in 2026 and will have smaller three-car automated trains which in many ways sounds similar to what's planned for singapore's jurong region mrt line these smaller traits reflect the very low densities around parts of the line 18 route and the lower projected passenger numbers of the line of course along with the various other grand purse express lines there are a lot of regular metro stations which are being enhanced to connect to the new facilities now as you might imagine being so old and having so many lines and so much history in such a storied city the paris metro has a ton of interesting and unique features and i think this is my favorite part of most explained videos because it inverts the expectations you so often have about transit systems historic or not one of the things that i find surprises people the most is learning how much of the paris metro is elevated especially historic sections of line six and two through central areas of the city the story here is less that elevation is never controversial as i'm sure it was when these sections were first built and likely still is more the point worth making is that i think elevated running can fit into a beautiful and historic urban area perfectly well the system is also somewhat unique in having several urban mega hubs including chateleo which you can traverse by foot or even by rail and that's so big that it's divided into separate sectors of interchanges that act almost like their own independent stations within a station there's also the less appreciated opera san lezar complex which is connected underground and taken as a whole is the second busiest station on the whole system there are also smaller but notable hubs like republique and nashon which probably benefited a lot from the fact that the paris metro just has a lot of lines and often has them bouncing off of each other rather than crossing to provide interchanges which you can see at nachon and republique one thing that needs to be mentioned is that the paris metro is incredibly dense its stops her generally just about half a kilometer apart on average meaning less than a 10 minute walk this is rather unique and means that while coverage is great speeds are not that said newer portions of the network like line 14 and newer extensions as well as those in outlying areas tend to have wider stop spacings speaking of line 14 unlike toronto new york london and berlin paris has core metro lines which are driverless line 14 also offers some of the highest scheduled service for a major metro line in the world with some departures set less than 90 seconds apart as well as platform screen doors at all stations the success of automation on line 14 actually led to the paris metro operator the ratp retrofitting automation on other lines the busiest line line one was automated in the 2000s with trains initially running mixed in with human operated trains and then eventually being deployed as all trains in service the line's historic stations were even retrofitted with platform screen doors and as it turns out similar works are going on on line 4 right now which is the system's next busiest line and should be complete in the next year if you're wondering line 13 also has a number of stations with platform gates one element that many people aren't familiar with is that the rubber tires were actually retrofitted into the historic lines of the paris metro with trains initially running as a mixture between sets with and without the additional tires this is different from cities like montreal santiago and mexico city as well as lions like line 14 where rubber tired trains were used from the outset of course not every element of the paris metro is perfect the system is one of the least accessible major metros out there and with so many old stations retrofits are not always very fast that said major expansions to the network are of course accessible so retrofits are the main thing that needs focus as a famous metro system the paris metro has a number of iconic designs ranging from its well-known steel entrance gateway which have been sent to other cities like montreal and mexico city to the excellent wayfinding which is clean and efficient i'd even say the beautiful blue and white liveries now being used across the hill de france are likely to be a future favorite though i know there are some mixed opinions on them these days alongside the thoughtful and feature packed interiors which take the comfortable seating layout seen in europe and the helpful technology seen in asia and combine them another iconic feature of the paris metro are these small arch side platform stations which make up the majority on the system and were the sort of default historic station design these stations were perfect for accommodating the short and narrow roughly two and a half meter wide trains which run on the whole of the network once again showing you that you don't need giant trains to move huge amounts of people of course while many stations in the system are standardized the unidirectional stations of line 10 most notably mirabeau are quite unusual [Music] at the same time some of the rolling stock on this system still has manually operated doors where you need to lift a knob to open them this is quite unique another thing that makes the parours metro unlike other systems we talk about is that it doesn't have divisions of larger and smaller trains though you might argue this is changing with the grand paris express while the trains are split between rubber tire and steel wheel as mentioned before this was originally done via retrofit and the loading gauge on the trains is the same perhaps the most unusual feature of the paris metro and the one i find the most fascinating are the crazy number of connecting tunnels unusual station layouts and even relatively frequent turning loops seen around the system which are used less today than in the past but are still used these are all features that didn't end up taking off in the world of metros but make the paris metro distinctly its own and that's what i love about it as always thanks for watching the video thanks to everyone who helped make this possible and i'll see you in the next one [Music] you

Channel: RMTransit

Views: 230,698

Keywords: transit, transportation, rail, railway, railfan, public transit, public transport, public transportation, train, subway, metro, underground, rail transport, urban planning, paris, paris metro, paris rer, rer, grand paris express, gpx

Id: kGsCejwW6Kk

Length: 20min 29sec (1229 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 02 2022