Paris Olympic transport investment complete

As this summer’s Olympic Games in the French capital approaches, the investment in new transport facilities came to a conclusion on 24 June, when automated metro line 14 was extended at both its north and south ends. This added 15.6km of new line and a new depot at Morangis near the southern end. 

 

Line 14 dates from October 1998 when it became the first new line opened since the 1930s and the first metro line to be automated from scratch. Until 24 June it ran 14.5km from Mairie St-Ouen in the north to Olympiades in the south via Gare St-Lazare, Châtelet-Les Halles and Gare de Lyon with 48 eight-car rubber-tyred MP89, MP05 and MP14 trains carrying 92M passengers/year. 

 

The June 2024 extensions, all underground, added 1.6km at the north end to St-Denis Pleyel and 14km at the south end reaching Orly airport with an end-to-end running time of 40 minutes. On the south extension an eighth station, Villejuif-Gustave Roussy will open before the end of 2024. 

 

In addition to providing service to and from Orly airport, line 14 will become an integral part of the new orbital Grand Paris Express metro network (lines 15-18) when this opens in 2025-2030; The extensions to line 14 were 100% financed by Société du Grand Paris (EUR 2.24bn). 37 more MP14 trains costing EUR 565M are accommodated at the new depot. 

 

Around 700 000 passengers/day are expected to be carried on line 14 during the Olympic Games. One unwelcome feature for some is the special fare of EUR 11.50 for passengers alighting or boarding at Orly Airport, the first time the metro has not offered a flat fare on every line, although holders of the Navigo smart card will not be charged extra to or from Orly.