Line 8 of the Paris tram

The line 8 tram Ile-de-France (T8) is a classic tram on a new line. Since it went into operation on December 16, 2014, it has significantly improved the local transport services in the Seine-Saint-Denis department north of the French capital.

Because of the route - a main route with two branch lines, which is reminiscent of a Y on a map - the route is often referred to as Tram'y . The almost 8.5 km long route connects the municipalities of Saint-Denis , Villetaneuse and Épinay-sur-Seine . It also serves as a feeder to metro line 13 , because the metro station Saint-Denis - Porte de Paris is also the southern terminus of line 8. Operator is the RATP .

The historical lines 54 and 65

Trams in the north of Paris around 1925

In the first third of the 20th century there were several tram lines in the area north of Paris.

Line 54, which runs along the Seine arch, existed from 1900 to 1935. The north-west branch of the T8 in the Saint-Denis - Épinay area essentially follows the old route.

The northern section of the then line 65 roughly corresponds to the northern branch of the new T8.

The new T8 line

Map of the Paris trams T1 - T8

In 1999, this route was included in the so-called Contrat de projets État-région 2000-2006 . These are agreements in which the state and the regions agree on the necessary infrastructure measures to be promoted.

The Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF for short) gave its general approval in 2003.

A year later it was decided that a classic tram should be built on steel rails and not a track-guided trolleybus. After public hearings in the affected communities, the project was classified in a Déclaration d'utilité publique , i.e. as important for the common good. In 2008 cost calculations were carried out and the allocation of costs to the various cost units was determined.

In February 2009 this line was officially numbered "8", while the final names of the stops were determined relatively late.

Construction work began in June 2010.

In the middle of September 2013 the first rails were welded together with the help of aluminothermic welding . In total, more than 2000 weld seams had to be made.

The plants are designed as environmentally friendly as possible. B. provided more than 6 km of the route with grass track . If necessary, the plant cover is watered. This takes place at night.

The journeys according to the timetable - but still without passengers - began in November 2014. Regular rail traffic began on December 16, 2014.

Financing the project

The agreements on the cost sharing by the various agencies provide for the following: The construction costs of almost 250 million euros (cost estimate from 2007!) Are divided as follows: The Île-de-France region pays 91.28%, the state 2 , 17%, the Seine - Saint-Denis department 5.69%, the Plaine Commune 0.74% and the RATP 0.12%.

The STIF is financing the procurement costs for the rolling stock of around 43 million euros.

Route

General description of the route

Crossing of the T1 and T8 lines near the Saint-Denis Gare stop

The trunk line is located in the south of the area to be developed. It has 5 stops, all of which are in the area of ​​the city of Saint-Denis: The terminus has a connection to Métrolinie 13 ; the Saint-Denis - Gare stop allows you to change to tram T1 , RER D and Transilien H, and via the latter a fast connection to Gare du Nord station .

The north-west branch with 8 stops is in the area of ​​Épinay-sur-Seine. There is a connection to the RER line C and from the end of 2016 also to the Tram Express Nord .

The north branch crosses the municipality of Villetaneuse and has four stops. The Villetaneuse-Université terminus there will also be able to switch to the Tram Express Nord from the end of 2016.

Tram line T8
Legend 3 Épinay-Orgemont 3 Épinay-sur-Seine - Gare Tangentielle Nord (from the end of 2016) 3 Gilbert Bonnemaison 3 Lacépède 3 Rose Bertin 3 Les Béatus 3 Les Mobiles 3 Blumenthal 3 Villetaneuse-Université Tangentielle Nord (from the end of 2016) 3 Pablo Neruda 3 Jean Vilar 3 César 3 Delaunay-Belleville 3 Paul Éluard 3 Saint Denis - Gare Transilien 3 Pierre de Geyter 3 Saint-Denis - Porte de Paris

The vehicles

A train on line T7 - ​​it is identical to the vehicles on line T8

Type 302 Alstom Citadis vehicles are used on route T8 . The order was placed in January 2011 as the second tranche of a supply contract with Alstom. The first tranche concerned the 19 vehicles for the T7 line . Paris trams have options to purchase a total of 70 sets.

The first vehicles for the T8 line were delivered in early 2014.

Depot

View of the route of the access tracks to the future depot (Nov 2012)

The depot is called Site de Maintenance et Remisage (SMR) and was built on a 20,000 m² site near the terminus of the northern branch in the municipality of Villataneuse. In addition to the workshops, a car wash and sidings for 20 trams, the facilities for operating the line are also located here. The depot was officially opened on May 26, 2014.

(Expected) passenger numbers and operating times

With 55,000 passengers (March 2017) per day or 16 million per year, the number of passengers met the planners' expectations.

The operating time is from 5:30 a.m. to 0:30 a.m. On Sundays and public holidays, operations start at 6 a.m. During rush hour, the trams on the main route run every 3 minutes, which leads to a 6-minute cycle on the two branches. A journey between the southern terminus and the terminus of the north-west branch takes 22 minutes. The trams run for 14 minutes between the southern terminus and the terminus of the north branch.

Planned route extensions

Extension to the south

As part of the application by the city of Paris for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the plan was to primarily build a southern clasp that would open up the planned Olympic quarter (southeast of the Stade de France ). But after Paris did not win the contract, this tram line was not built either. But both the city of Paris and the surrounding communities are still very interested in better linking residential areas with high population density, which have been poorly developed in terms of traffic, and commercial areas.

9 or 10 more stops will be built along the approximately 5.5 km long route. This creates connections for the metro line 12 , the planned line 15 of the Grand Paris Express and the RER B . Terminus is the newly created station Rosa Parks of the RER E . The tram line T3b already stops there .

In autumn 2013, the STIF approved almost 400,000 euros for a feasibility study, and in spring 2017 the local authorities involved reached an agreement to finance further planning in the amount of 3.5 million euros.

A planning office supported by several public institutions (including the State, City of Paris, RATP, Chamber of Commerce and Industry) also proposes using a section of the so-called small railway belt to lead the route further south, around the 19th and 20th arrondissements better to develop from Paris. There are three different variants: the line could end at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont , at Porte de Vincennes or at Gare de Lyon station.

Extensions in the north and northwest

From the neighboring communities of Montmagny and Argenteuil, there is a desire to extend the north and north-west branches. The planning authorities have not yet commented on this.

Web links

Commons : Tram Line T8  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Publication of the RATP from 2013 (French) with a geographically exact route plan
• Website of Plaine Commune (French) with map (route map of the T8 including the planned extension to the south). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 24, 2014 ; accessed on May 9, 2017 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Internet pages of the project, Article 162 (French) , accessed on May 21, 2014.
2. ↑ mairie-villetaneuse.fr
3. ↑ accessed on March 8, 2014.
4. ↑ Internet pages of the Tram'y project, Article 179 (French), accessed on May 21, 2014
5. ↑ Commissioning of the depot (French) accessed on June 3, 2014
6. ↑ stif.org press release of the STIF of March 23, 2017 (French); accessed on May 28, 2017.
7. ↑ Publication of the RATP from 2013 (French) accessed on April 15, 2014 ( Memento from May 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ STIF communication from October 2013 (French), accessed on May 22, 2014
9. ↑ Study from 2011 (French) accessed on May 22, 2014