The Last Leg Across Paris
I had arranged that I would take the 18:43 Eurostar back to England, so that gave me time for lunch in Paris.
I always eat in Cafe Breizh, when changing between Gare du Lyon and Gare du Nord, as it’s conveniently on the Metro from both stations.
It is a high-class Breton Creperie, which is gluten free and also has a nice line of ciders.
The only problem, is that at times you have to queue.
I took these pictures on the Metro.
Note.
- The unusual half-height platform edge doors on Line 1.
- Paris Zoo does nights, like London.
- It did appear that Bastille station had been spruced up.
For Cafe Breizh, I went to Saint-Sébastien – Froissart station.
Returning to the station after an excellent meal, I came across this shop.
I would have investigated further, but they were very busy.
Similar But Different!
London and Paris are rival cities and their two transport networks share some of the same characteristics.
But there are differences. The Paris metro was designed as a whole and was deliberately built with close stations, in a grid that covered the centre of the city. For political reasons, it was also built mainly in the city centre. This gives it various strengths and weaknesses that are different to London’s.
As a regular visitor to Paris, I’ve only ever used a bus once, whereas in the centre of London, I use them all the time. Is this because the Metro covers the centre in a denser manner than the London Underground does or is it because London’s buses have an unequalled bus information and mapping system.
In recent years, London has been building Crossrail and Thameslink, which are its version of the Paris RER and London has also developed a collection of run-down railways into the vaguely-circular London Overground. One of the aims of this railway, was to avoid going into the centre and out again, when you needed to go around the city.
So now Paris is developing the similarly laid-out Grand Paris Express, with similar aims. The layout is shown in this map.
Grand Paris Express
But there are differences. Whereas London has used full-size trains on existing railways with stations about two minutes apart, Paris is using smaller Metro sized trains calling at frequent stations and new tunnels and tracks will be constructed.
It’s a case of you pays your money and you makes your choice!
I think the only certainty, is that Paris’s ring Metro, will cost a lot more to build than it did to build London’s ring Overground. This article on Property Investor Europe says that the Grand Paris Express will cost ten billion more than the original estimate of twenty billion euro. That’s twice as much as London’s Crossrail!
The construction will also be a lot more disruptive, as new tunnels, stations and lines are built.
A Design Crime – How Not To Design Platform Edge Doors
I took these pictures on Metro Line 1, which has some stations with platform edge doors.
Unlike all others I’ve seen, they are only half height and the thick pillars partially obscure the view of the station from inside the train. As there is no station display inside the train, which can be seen from most seats, these doors meant that I missed my stop.
Metro To Stalingrad
After Sacre Coeur I took Line 2 of the Metro to Stalingrad.
A lot of the line is an elevated railway on massive steel viaducts, something that isn’t very common in London, except for parts of the Docklands Light Railway and the Overground.
In a modern version, we tend to use massive bowspring or tied-arch bridges as at Haggerston and Shoreditch High Street rather than the heavy Victorian girders.
Both forms done correctly and with taste, add interest to the street-scape.
Does London Need A ‘Grand Paris Express’?
The Grand Paris Express is a plan to create an automated Metro, that goes all the way round Paris. Wikipedia says this.
Grand Paris Express is a project of new rapid transit lines to be created in the île-de-France region, in France. The work could begin in 2014, with the first line opening between Pont de Sèvres métro station and Gare de Noisy – Champs (fr) RER A station around 2020. This line was first proposed in the project Orbival, then integrated into the Arc Express project.
The French also seem to be moving on the project as is reported here in Global Rail News.
So does London need something similar?
If we look at Berlin, that has a circular railway around the city centre called the Ringbahn. It’s about the same size as the Circle Line, but differs in one big way; it has a parallel freight ring.
London also has the Overground,which is a great way to get round the city without going through the centre. Like the Berlin Ringbahn it also carries freight.
The Overground is not a Metro, as in Berlin or as Paris is proposing, but a full-size railway, with not as high a frequency, as you’d get on a tube or metro line. However, the Overground does share a lot of objectives with the Grand Paris Express.
But those creative minds at Transport for London have proposed something similar to the Grand Paris Express in their Transport Infrastructure Plan for 2050. It’s a plan to extend the Gospel Oak to Barking Line under the Thames from Barking to Abbey Wood and then by means of existing lines take the trains around London via Sutton, Wimbledon, Hounslow, Old Oak Common to Gospel Oak. I documemted the route in full in these posts.
London’s plan differs from that of Paris in one big way, as it only requires one expensive piece of new infrastructure, which is the tunnel from Barking to Thamesmead. The main factor that will make London’s plan possible is that in a few years, all trains will have in-cab signalling, so slotting in the new Overground services on existing lines, will be a lot easier.
The title of the French proposal sums it up. It contains the word Grand and that is what it is.
London may take a much more mundane and affordable step-by-step approach, but it means that you don’t have to wait years to get the benefits you need now.
Rolling on Rubber
Note that some of the trains on the Paris Metro run on rubber tyres.
Next thing someone will run buses in a tunnel to create a cheap metro. On seconds thoughts after the fiasco of the Cambridge Busway, it would be much more expensive.
Tickets on the Paris Metro
Since my last visit to Paris, they have brought in new ticket machines.
But why is it that they are slightly idiosyncratic, although once you realise that you touch the roller to start they are no problem. They also use such simple French, that I don’t need to change the machines to English. Surely, all ticket machines should follow similar rules on a world-wide basis.
But both London and Paris are streets ahead of Montreal and Rotterdam, which have developed systems that can only be used by locals who speak the native language.
The Paris Metro does History
I have posted several articles about how the London Underground is making sure that it restores old stations sensitively and creates new ones of class.
So here’s two pictures from Paris.
Pigalle Metro Station, Paris
This shows the entrance to Pigalle station near Montmartre. The French have resisted any thoughts to change the design.
To match the Gillespie Road tiling, here’s the tiling at Concorde.
Tiling in Concorde Metro Station, Paris
Note too in the picture above that the instructions on how to use the Metro are shown. They’ve also started to put maps of the area around the station on the platform. This and putting maps upstairs should always be there. London always does the latter and I always use them when I visit an unfamiliar station.
The Anonymous Widower 