Inauguration of line 14 northward extension on the Paris metro

On 14^th December, line 14 north between Saint-Lazare station and the Saint-Ouen town hall was officially inaugurated. The ceremony took place in the new terminus called ‘Mairie-de-Saint-Ouen – Région Île-de-France’ in the presence of Prime Minister Jean Castex. The first traffic began at 4pm.

The busiest line in the Paris network

Much anticipated by the residents of the Greater Paris region, this extension aims to better serve the northern part of the Paris suburbs. Thanks to 4 new stations, the former Gare Saint-Lazare terminus is linked to the Saint-Ouen town hall and provides access to the booming districts of Batignolles, the Saint-Ouen docks, the new high court and the new headquarters of the regional council. A total of 750,000 passengers are expected to use line 14 every day, making it the busiest line on the entire Paris network.

Today is a key moment for our team, for SYSTRA and for all the people of the Greater Paris region. We are very proud to have participated to this project from design through to commissioning and to be part of an extension which will transform the lives of thousands of people every day.

Michèle Varjabédian, Director of line 14 north for SYSTRA

More than six years of work

Launched after three years of studies on 13^th June 2014, the construction of line 14 north is being completed after six and a half years of work. The preliminary designs began at Xelis and continued at SYSTRA with the DPU Business Unit and Structures & Civil Engineering (SGC), which were mobilised for awarding works contracts, approval of execution studies, and works management and assistance with acceptance operations. We thus supervised the construction of the 4 stations and the tunnel as well as their equipment for technical spaces, low voltage, Fluids/HVAC, smoke ventilation and evacuation signage.

A showcase for French expertise in driverless metro systems

Inaugurated in 1998, line 14, the world’s first 100% automatic high-capacity metro line, was largely designed by SYSTRA. Even today, it remains the showcase for French expertise in driverless metro systems. Its stations with 120m platforms are the largest in the Parisian network, among the deepest, and fully accessible to people with reduced mobility.  

For this extension, there are new trains called MP14, the longest metro trains in France (8 carriages, 120 metres), better soundproofed and less energy consuming, equipped with passenger information in real time as well as USB key sockets. The average speed on the line will be 45km/h, greater than all the other lines, as well as the promise of a train every 85 seconds during rush hour to transport an extra 200,000 passengers per day.

Two other extensions

Two other extensions are planned: to Orly airport in the south by 2024, and to the future hub of Saint-Denis-Pleyel in the north by 2025. This will double the length of the line and involve more than 1 million passengers per day: line 14 will then become the backbone of Greater Paris and the busiest metro line in Europe.

KEY FACTS

• Line 14 north
• Length: 6.4km (5.8km of line + 0.6km of connected sections)
• 4 new stations, platforms of 120m in length
• 4 communities served
• 2 tunnel boring machines (TBMs)
• 1 stabling and maintenance facility at Saint-Ouen
• Almost 100,000 inhabitants served
• Access to 75,000 jobs
• 15 minutes from Saint-Ouen to Châtelet

• Line 14 (since 14th December 2020):
• Total length: 14.4km
• Ridership: 750,000 passengers per day / 91.6 millions passengers per year
• Average speed: 45km/h

• Ligne 14 (by 2025):
• Extension southwards to Orly (+14km)
• Extension northwards to Saint-Denis – Pleyel (+1.7km)
• 1 million passengers per day