Line de la grande ceinture de Paris
The Ligne de la grande ceinture de Paris , also known as Grande Ceinture , is a circular railway that circles Paris. It runs an average of 15 km from the Boulevard Périphérique . It was decided to build it in the second half of the 19th century in order to relieve the already existing inner ring line, the Chemin de Fer de Petite Ceinture , and to create a connecting line for goods traffic between the individual routes running radially towards Paris. Later two sections were built, which run parallel to the main line. These are the so-called Grande Ceinture complémentaire and the Grande Ceinture stratégique .
Route
Starting with Versailles, southwest of Paris, the line crosses - following clockwise - the following stations or places: Versailles-Chantiers, Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, Saint-Germain-GC, Achères, Sartrouville, Argenteuil-GC, Epinay , Stains, Noisy-le-Sec, Valenton, Juvisy, Massy-Palaiseau.
history
As early as 1864, various projects were worked out to create a circular railway outside the city limits of Paris. The state administration of the roads and bridges proposed a complete ring closure with the connection of all radial routes running in the direction of Paris. This was approved by the National Assembly in 1875 with the condition that the line was to be built with two tracks.
Preliminary planning and operator
The four companies that had obtained concessions to operate the route - namely the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord , the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est , the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM ) and the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans founded a joint subsidiary that same year, the so-called Syndicat de la Grande Ceinture.
By the way, in 1880 there was an expansion: the two operating companies for the Petite and the Grande Ceinture merged to form a company that was called Syndicat d'exploitation des deux Ceintures. In the meantime the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest had also joined the company. 1881-1882.
Building history
The main line
The construction of the line was decided in 1875 and in 1877 the first section between Noisy-le-Sec and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, southeast of Paris, was put into operation. The original line was completed in 1881/82. It bears the route number 990 000.
In 1882 the section Noisy-le-Sec - Le Bourget - Achères was opened.
In 1883, the Juvisy - Versailles section went into operation.
Grande ceinture stratégique
The Choisy-le-Roi ↔ Massy - Verrières line, often referred to as the Ligne de la grande ceinture stratégique , is an alternative route between the Orly signal box and the Massy - Palaiseau train station, which runs through Rungis instead of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and Juvisy. This line started operating in 1886. It has the advantage that the two stations mentioned, which had developed into bottlenecks, were no longer served. But it also fulfilled a requirement of the military, namely that the railway line should run within the belt of the defensive fort, which was built from 1870 to protect the French capital. The line has route number 985 000.
Grande ceinture complémentaire
This route is east of Paris. It runs through Neuilly-sur-Marne and connects Sucy-Bonneuil with Noicy-le-Sec. The route with the number 957 000 has a length of 21.2 km. It was necessary to build it because the main line was also used for several kilometers by the radial lines Paris-Est ↔ Mulhouse-Ville and Paris-Bastille ↔ Marles-en-Brie and these sections were overloaded. After the construction was decided in 1924, the line could be put into operation in 1928.
Engineering structures
A number of engineering structures on the three routes are remarkable:
- The main route crosses the Seine twice and the Marne three times: the west of Paris is home to the most demanding structures: the Relais tunnel in the Marly forest and the Viaduc du Val-Saint-Léger bridge , which crosses the Saint-Léger valley. This bridge, built in 1880, has a length of 311 m, the largest span of a bridge element is 72.50 m. The bridge was blown up by the German army in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946.
- The Ceinture Complémentaire crosses the Marne on a nearly 100-long bridge and has three tunnels with lengths of 85 m, 714 m and 461 m.
electrification
The Choisy-le-Roi - Orly section of the Grande ceinture stratégique had already been electrified in 1921. The energy was supplied at 850 V via a busbar. In 1927 the changeover to overhead lines with 1,500 V voltage took place. The section between Orly and Massy was electrified in 1947.
The section from Bobigny to near Gagny of the Grande ceinture complémentaire was electrified in 1970; the remainder of the route was not made until 1975. Most of this route is supplied with alternating current (25 kV, 50 Hz). A short section in the south with direct current 1.5 kV.
The radial lines from the Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est stations were electrified towards the end of the 1950s (25 kV; 50 Hz). It made sense to electrify the northern Grande Ceinture in the same way, as this would allow trains to change areas without changing locomotives.
On the stretch between the junction of the Paris-Creil line near Stains and Noisy-le-Sec, voltage was applied to the overhead line on July 21, 1959. The Argenteuil - Stains section of the main line and the Bobigny - Gagny section of the Ceinture complémentaire had to wait until September 14, 1970.
The line today
Freight transport
If the line was originally built to divert goods traffic around Paris, that is still its most important task today: 250 goods trains use the Grande Ceinture every day.
In order to channel the movement of goods, several large marshalling yards and existing ones were built along the Grande Ceinture - or on the feeder lines. So z. B. at Le Bourget-Drancy; Villeneuve - Saint-Georges; Juvisy ; Trappes, Achères. Some of these have since been dissolved due to structural changes in the transport system (transition to block trains; competition from heavy goods vehicle traffic). The Achères marshalling yard, for example, was last used for block trains in the transport of cars and was shut down by the SNCF in 2005. It has been used again since 2011 by private railway companies.
The section from Versailles to Achères was discontinued in 1990. From Versailles-Chantiers to Noisy-le-Roi and from St-Germain-en-Laye Grande Ceinture to Achères, the route is closed today.
passenger traffic
Passenger traffic was never of great importance on the Grande Ceinture: initially the areas touched by the line were only sparsely populated; the trains ran very irregularly, so the demand was correspondingly low. Passenger traffic on the Grand Ceinture Complémentaire was not started until 1932. On the western part of the route, the so-called Grande Ceinture Ouest, passenger transport was discontinued as early as 1936, on the other sections in 1939.
Between Versailles and Juvisy south of Paris, the RER C uses both the original Grande Ceinture and the Grand Ceinture Stratégique.
On a section of the Grande Ceinture Ouest - after extensive renovation work on the route - the L line of the Transilien has been operating since December 2004 . It serves the following Grande Ceinture stations: St-Germain-en-Laye Grande Ceinture, St-Germain-en-Laye Bel Air, Mareil-Marly, Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche, Noisy-le-Roi. The number of passengers leaves a lot to be desired, however, as there is no direct connection to Paris. Trips to Paris require a change at Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche.
Individual TGV trains use the Grande Ceinture on their journeys between different regions of France without going to one of the major Parisian train stations.
The future of passenger transport on the Grande Ceinture
There are many projects to improve the local transport offer in the Paris area and especially the tangential transport, i. H. make traffic between neighboring suburbs more attractive. Three of these projects concern the Grand Ceinture - all of them will use tram-train trains.
Tram Express North
The Tram Express Nord will run parallel to and directly next to the existing tracks of the Grande Ceinture on a 28 km long route on the Sartrouville - Noisy-le-Sec route. Completion is scheduled for 2023. The middle section Épinay-sur-Seine ↔ Le Bourget went into operation in 2017.
Tram Express Sud
The Tram Express Sud will take over the RER C route - which follows the Grande Ceinture route - on the Épinay - Massy - Versailles section and will operate as a tram between Épinay and Évry on a new route to be built. Commissioning is scheduled for 2020.
Tram Express Ouest
The Tram Express Ouest will take over the service of the Transilien L on the Grande Ceinture Ouest, with an extension of the route in the south to the RER station Saint-Cyr , in the north initially to Saint-Germain-en-Laye (commissioning around 2018) and in the final stage even to Achères.
literature
- Philippe Callé: The Grande Ceinture around Paris . In: Railways in Paris = Railway History Special 2 (2015). ISBN 978-3-937189-94-9 , pp. 46-49.
- Philippe Callé: The locomotives of the Ceinture . In: Railways in Paris = Railway History Special 2 (2015). ISBN 978-3-937189-94-9 , pp. 50-53.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ French State Archives accessed on November 16, 2016 (French)
- ↑ Journal officiel de la République francaise 1924 (legal gazette) with Declaration d'Utilité publique accessed on December 17, 2014 (French)
- ↑ Structurae accessed December 15, 2014
- ↑ Press release of the RFF from summer 2013, accessed on December 20, 2014 (French)