Building capacity

Yves Ramette, Assistant managing director responsible for projects, engineering and investments and for the “Investment” and “Grand ” assignments, RATP,

Grand Paris Express: 175km of orbital automated metro to remodel the city

Public transport in the Île-de-France (Greater Paris) region has been undergoing radical change for a number of years now. Notable illustrations of this are the transfer of responsibility for transport organisation to the Paris Region (formerly government-controlled), the gradual opening up to competition and, most importantly, an explosion in the number of new projects after close to a 30-year hiatus (with the notable exceptions of the Eole and Météor projects).

Revitalising one of the world’s densest and most above all interconnect these hubs via a As part of this revitalisation, two metro efficient networks, high-capacity orbital transport network. lines (lines 4 and 12) are being extend- and then the suburbs, which are of- is not simply a transport ed; the network will reach 100km ten difficult to reach, thus hampering project: by promoting the transforma- by 2015 composed of extensions to the the growth and attractiveness of the tion of Paris into a ‘polycentric’ metro- three existing lines and the building employment hubs located there. politan area, the project embodies a of four new ones, making Paris’s tram Travel flows reflect this dichotomy be- vision of urban planning and aspires to network ’s third-biggest; new tween historic Paris and its suburbs: increase the appeal of the French capi- rolling stock, offering greater comfort 64% of trips in inner Paris are made us- tal in the face of competition from other and using less energy, and refurbished ing public transport, but this proportion leading cities around the world. equipment are currently being intro- falls to 10% in the city’s outer suburbs. This vision took shape under the ‘in- duced on many lines (e.g. RER Lines Cross-suburban journeys, three-quarters ternational consultation on the future A and B, Metro Line 5); Paris Metro of which are made by car, have grown by of metropolitan Paris’, in which ten , which carries 725,000 daily 50% in 25 years and now account for multidisciplinary teams, which now passengers, is being automated mark- 70% of trips in the region. Overall, the form a joint group within the ’Atelier in- ing a world ‘first’ (see article p.20). share of public transport has fallen by ternational du Grand Paris’, put forward Alongside this, Paris’s metro stations around five points since the 1970s. scenarios for the city of tomorrow. are being refurbished and a new pas- As a result the main arteries are con- A wide-ranging discussion was held senger information system has been gested, public transport networks are between September 2010 and Janu- successfully rolled out. saturated in the centre of Paris since ary 2011 by France’s national public This new dynamism has gone hand in they are used for suburb-Paris-sub- debate committee, the independent hand with a significant rise in investment: urb trips, disparities are increasing body whose impartiality guaranteed RATP investment has risen by 50% in between districts, the growth rate is a high standard of dialogue between five years to reach EUR 1.5 billion in 2011. moderate, quality of life is on a down- the various stakeholders. ward slide and the situation in terms Over 15 000 people were able to gain Change of model to a ‘polycentric’ of energy consumption, air quality and information and express their views climate impact is unsatisfactory. during the 55 public meetings held Despite the progress made in recent across the whole of the Greater Paris years, particularly in the suburbs, the : the result of region. 255 ‘stakeholder contribu- is at a funda- discussion and consensus tions’ were compiled and the web- mental disadvantage because of its Against this backdrop the public authori- site for the debate received 200,000 ‘concentric’ structure, comprising on ties launched the Grand Paris project in visitors – proof of the interest shown the one hand a central area – inner 2009, aiming to link up the main eco- by residents, politicians and socio- Paris – which is very attractive and has nomic development hubs with Paris and economic actors in the Paris region.

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Metro network: The road network of the inner suburbs is saturation at morning peak hour heavily congested, particularly orbital arteries

Left: The saturated metro lines during peak hours highlights the need to create orbital lines to reduce the number of trips passing through Paris. Right: Suburb-to-suburb trips, three quarters of which are by car, have grown by 50% in the last 25 years.

These debates were unprecedented in will be extended to Saint-Denis (one tributed strongly to the project’s de- terms of their scale. They brought diver- of the main development hubs in velopment and to the public debate, gent viewpoints closer together and took the north of Paris) and as far as and is very positive about the Grand on board the expectations of Greater airport in the south; Paris Express project in its adopted Paris residents. Under an agreement • A third line (the Green Line) will run form today, for several reasons. between the French Government and services to the Plateau de In 2006, RATP produced its own the Region they led to a unifying project campus, a hotspot for innovation diagnosis of the situation in its emerging in early 2011: the Grand Paris (major companies’ R&D sites, uni- Métrophérique project, urging the Express. The project consisted of plans versities and laboratories, public creation of an orbital metro as the for an automated orbital metro, closely research centres, higher educa- only way to improve suburb-to-suburb interwoven with the existing network, tion institutes, etc.) accounting for trips and as a permanent solution to accompanied by a mobilisation plan in 10% of French research – this line decongest the radial lines. initially will link Orly with Versailles support of public transport to strength- The Paris Metro has some 15 sections of before being extended to . en and modernise the existing network line between stations that are already used daily by millions of Greater Paris 44 of the 57 stations will provide inter- at saturation point, while a further 45 residents in the short and medium term. changes with the existing or planned similar sections are at 85% saturation network and seven stations will connect and causing concern: RER A, with the 175km of automated metro up and with the high-speed railway network. development of the business district running in 2018 The project, whose contracting author- at La Défense, has to cope with very The final version of the project comprises ity will be a newly-created public body high peak loads, as do Metro Line 13 three lines of automated metro with a to- known as the Société du Grand Paris, and (to a lesser degree) Metro Line 1. tal length of 175km and 57 new stations: will be augmented, under supervision Despite the technology innovations • An orbital main line (the Red Line) of the STIF (Syndicat des transports that RATP has introduced on these will link the districts around Paris d'Île-de-France), by a “supplementary lines (e.g. improved train control, plat- and thus ensure efficient suburb- backbone network” (the Orange Line), form doors to optimise station flows, to-suburb trips without the need which notably will boost services in higher-capacity rolling stock, automa- to travel in and out of central Paris; the east of Paris. Commissioning of the tion) the degree to which the transport this line will connect with radial rail- various sections of this project, whose offer can be physically extended is now way lines, making it possible nota- estimated cost will be EUR 20.5 billion, starting to reach a point beyond which bly to connect the départements in is scheduled to start in 2018. technology will be to no avail. the outer suburbs of Greater Paris; A project providing a structural long-term The Grand Paris Express project there- • Line 14 (the Blue Line), the Paris answer to the challenge of saturation fore provides a long-term answer to Metro’s state-of-the-art automated RATP, the reference transport operator alleviating saturation on the busiest line designed and operated by RATP, in the Greater Paris region, has con- lines and represents a crucial addition

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of Paris and, weighed down with lug- gage, want a direct link to and from the terminals. Simulations and experi- ences with show that an inter- change at Saint-Denis, however well- designed it may be, will hamper the attractiveness of the new network.

RATP Group engineering mobilised The Société du Grand Paris reports that the engineering skills needed to implement the Greater Paris transport network are worth some EUR 2 billion, i.e. 10% of the cost of the project (EUR 20.5 billion). This project, the largest in Europe’s urban transport sector, will therefore be utilising vast engineering capacities, particularly those of RATP and its subsidiaries. Following its strategic policy aim of “supporting and taking part in Grand Paris” and in the road map With ridership set to reach 2 million by 2025, the project provides a long-term solution to decongest over-crowded lines. established by its shareholder, the RATP Group is actively placing its en- to the measures currently in place on regularity, flexibility, adaptability to gineering expertise at the project’s the lines. Grand Paris Express, which demand and energy savings. disposal. RATP and its subsidiaries are heavily involved in assisting the is expected to have a ridership of two The agreement between the French project managers. After a round of million a day by 2025, should reduce Government and the Region on the competitive tendering, they were se- average peak loading by 10 to 15% Grand Paris Express project has lected to help the Société du Grand on metro lines by 2025 (down by as sounded the starting gun for the ex- Paris in four main areas: infrastruc- much as -25% in the case of Line 13) tension of Line 14 in the north as far ture, railway systems, maintenance while RER peak loads should decrease as Saint-Ouen, which will ease satura- systems and stations. by as much as -30% or even -40% tion on Line 13 of the network. RATP, according to the section. which is the joint contracting author- RATP has won contracts for infrastruc- ture consultancy for the southern ex- RATP is also satisfied with the choice ity for this extension alongside STIF, tension of Line 14, automated systems of automated metro: one of its has made this project a priority. and the Champigny Le Plant workshop acknowledged areas of expertise. Services to and from Roissy airport: as well as the contract to design the sta- Line 14, which scores an impressive another missed opportunity? tion model for the Grand Paris network. 99.8% reliability rating, and an oper- The picture would not be complete RATP is more than ever committed ating that can be trimmed to without mentioning a sense of re- to making the Grand Paris Express 85 seconds and a high level of serv- gret on RATP’s part: whilst the initial project a benchmark success that will ice, has been hugely successful (daily project submitted for public debate, in improve the daily lives of millions of passenger numbers up from 150 000 the spirit of the Greater Paris Act of 3 Greater Paris residents, speed up when it opened in 1998 to 500 000 June 2010, made provision for a direct economic development in the Paris today). The line is considered a gold automated metro connection between Region and allow the “City of Light” to standard that some 200 delegations Paris and its main gateway to the world steer a course for the 21st century that travel to Paris to visit each year. – Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport – ranks it as a worldclass city. In the course of discussions, auto- the same was no longer true when the mated metro emerged clearly as the finalised project was adopted. most suitable option: able to meet the As a result, the Grand Paris network Contact: [email protected] fluctuating capacity needs of between will not fully cater for the needs of copying [email protected] 9000 and 37,500 passengers at peak air passengers, 85% of whom either times, while offering the benefits of come from or are going to the centre Translated from the French original version

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