By Cécile D. Photos by Laura B. Posted January 30, 2021 at 7:17 p.m. Updated January 30, 2021 at 7:18 p.m.
In less than ten years, the surface area of the Paris metro will have doubled. Line 14 has already celebrated its expansion, and it will continue to grow even further. What about the new lines that must emerge from this important project? Where are we exactly? We take stock.
Launched in 2010, completed (if all goes well) in 2030, the Greater Paris is a marathon. If Rome was not built in a day, then the enlargements of the subway from Paris either. It is because this project is not an easy task: 200 kilometers of lines more metro, 68 new stations, four lines in addition and an investment of 38 billion euros. The Parisian scrutinized the construction schedule for this site.
Due to the pandemic, and due to its size, the project is undergoing a retard of a few months – delay that the Greater Paris Society intends to catch up in 2021. Despite their efforts, it is likely that the commissioning of the new lines will be postponed.
The line 14 has already been able to celebrate a first expansion, with the opening of the Porte de Clichy station. The future section South Olympiad – Orly should be completed in 2024. In 2021, RATP intends to complete the excavation of the 14 km of line added. Then, the work will focus on the digging of the new stations, their development and on the work of the new tracks. All this should be finished by the scheduled date, except for the train station. Villejuif Gustave-Roussy, which has a connection with line 15, which will open much later.
In the north direction Saint-Ouen Town Hall – Saint-Denis-Pleyel, line 14 is also undergoing some works. There are 800 meters of track left to get to Pleyel station. The goal is to have completed this complex work for the JO de 2024.
The line 15 should stay cut in half for a few years. Its southern part Pont-de-Sèvres – Noisy-Champs should be completed in 2025. SGP hopes to be able to complete the digging of the 33 km of tunnels this year, and to be able to continue the laying of the rails started at Noisy-Champs in 2020. The stations are slowly starting to be upgraded, but they will not all be finished at the same time.
The eastern section Pleyel-Champigny and 15 Ouest Pleyel-Pont-de-Sèvres will be the last to be completed, since it should only be put into service 2030. No work is therefore planned for the moment, the contracts for the construction of the line will not be divided into four lots and awarded until 2023, the date of the start of the work.
We have already known for a few months, the line 16 Saint-Denis-Pleyel – Noisy-Champs will not be completed in 2024, as it should have been initially, since it serves the athletes’ village. It is likely that the work will be completed in 2025. The digging of the tunnels is still continuing and the award of the last civil engineering contract for the Chelles station, and the tunnel from Chelles to Noisy-Champs must be done this year.
The line 17 (Saint-Denis-Pleyel – Le Mesnil-Amelot) will not open before either 2025, since it has a common part with line 16. The rest of the work is continuing correctly, according to the SGP. Part of the site had also been suspended between Le Bourget and Villepinte via the Triangle de Gonesse due to a conflict: residents opposed the construction of a station in a space located in the middle of the fields.
Finally, the line 18 must rally Orly at Versailles Building sites. Here again, the commissioning is done in two stages. The line opens in 2027 to Saclay, then to Versailles by 2030.
To visualize these new lines, you can see the interactive map of the Société Grand Paris.
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