The GRAND New Stations of Grand Paris Express!

The GRAND New Stations of Grand Paris Express!

We got to visit Berlin and London this year, as you might know if you follow me on Instagram. But even cooler was visiting Paris, where we got to go behind the scenes on the Grand Paris Express project above and below ground to see where Paris’s new suburban metro network will run and how

It’ll work. In this video, we’re going to take you for a whirlwind tour of new metro stations, train stations and the infrastructure that will take trains around Paris. So buckle in and let’s go. Welcome to RM Transit, a channel about public transportation projects around the world. The Grand Paris Express is one

Of the world’s largest and most exciting transit projects because it’ll expand the Paris metro into and around the suburbs and interlink the metro and the RER into an even larger network of electric rail connecting the whole region. If you haven’t already seen it, my video last week covered our

Visit to the launch of the trains, which will be used on three of the four new Grand Paris Express lines, lines 15 16 and 17. But for trains to actually run around the region and move passengers around the French capital, an enormous amount of new infrastructure needs to be built. This is

The responsibility of the Societe du Grand Paris, which is coordinating the various works, which will include over 200 metro built for a fraction of the price of cities like New York, London and Hong Kong. While in Paris, we got to visit three major works sites where work is going on to build

The new metro lines 15 and 18, which will encircle Paris and connect its southwestern suburbs. Our journey actually began, though, at Fabrique du Metro, which is something every big transit project in the world could learn from and so cool. Essentially, this is a public engagement center, as many big transit projects have,

But it is of museum quality and there is tons of stuff you can come see, which you should definitely do if you’re in Paris anytime soon, including the specialized wall panels that allow station designs to be adjusted over time with new signs, art seating, waste receptacles and more.

Prototypes of these screen doors you’ll see in stations with wayfinding included, a mock up of one of the train cars aligned with the screen doors, which feels shockingly close to the actual train car we got on board before, working screens and all. A recreation of the elevators which will be

Used in stations. Historical info on the metro and design information about the Grand Paris Express. Giant architectural renders, but also amazing models of stations, and not just of the stations themselves, but detailed mockups of the platforms. You may remember that earlier this year we saw a tunnel boring machine and what’s cool is

That they actually have a miniature model of a TBM here, which of course actually has a spinning cutter head. And even better is this area where you can see how large the tunnels will be. I mean, just look at this place. They even have mock ups of the

Fairgates which is awesome. I love the overhead lights on these. That makes it clear which gates are for going in and which are for coming out. And as it turns out, fabric de Metro really isn’t just for show. The center has also been used to test concepts and ideas for the project. Turning

It into a public space is really just the icing on the cake. So after checking out the center, we headed out to our first station site to see the metro actually coming together. Line 15 is a new circular metro line with a tail which will wrap around Paris traveling through its suburbs. The

Line will be fully driverless, powered by 1500 volts DC overhead lines and 100% underground, which with tunnels measuring 75 km long, will make it the world’s longest fully underground metro line by a significant margin. The first section of line 15 being built is the southern section

Which will form an arc around southern Paris and the first station we visited was Arcueil- Cashan, which is about 2km south of the Peripherique ring road and which will link line 15 with the RER B. We started our tour from the usual site office with a safety briefing from where we

Could see the construction work happening on site below. The RER station here is on an embankment with side platforms and entrances to the street on both sides. The new metro platforms are being built under the southern part of the RER platforms and the metro headhouse will not only serve line 15 and

Interchanging passengers, but also provide another entrance to the RER. Entering the station, you can see down, way down. And as you can see, the metro station is not an insubstantial addition, it’s massive. The new metro portions of the station make the station way bigger, but also higher capacity

With more vertical access to the RER platforms. The entry hall to the station is really grand and you can see trains passing through the site every few minutes. Trains keep running as work is done, heading deeper inside, you can see the escalators that will connect passengers with the RER, as well as

Some nice deep red tiling on the walls. We actually even went up to platform level where you can see the RER trains running behind the hoarding. We continued our way up, this time to the roof where there were awesome views of the RER trains passing by.

I kind of wanted to stay here and watch the trains, but we had to go on. Looking north, you can actually see a massive aqueduct, which, while perhaps somewhat normal in Europe, really blew my mind. From up here, you could see down to a pretty nice entrance

For the existing RER station. All of these passengers are still using the service without issue while all of this work goes on. The roof has skylights, of course, to allow natural light deep into the station. It’s a long way down. Looking around the roof, you can see back to the site office

Where we were before. As well as these paths, these are actually structural locations where development will be able to be built in the future. So once the station is done, a developer can take over. Putting homes above stations is smart, and designing the station forward from day one is very

Smart. From here, we headed out to get a look at the station building from the other side, and you can really get a sense of its scale. You can also see a tube sending fresh air to the construction site down below. Next up, we headed underground, which meant

A lot of stairs, because there are a number of different levels. Of course, while we took the stairs, passengers will mostly take elevators and escalators in the future. There was a ton of space with emergency stairs and utility rooms in a modern metro station, which people probably don’t

Realize. And it was super cool to get to see it. Now, at this point, we were way below ground and we headed down one more level to the concourse where we were sitting right above the platforms. From here, we took the stairs, which have an interesting splitting design, down to the platforms themselves.

You can actually see the final tiling starting to go in, and there is so much work going on. Looking down the platforms, you can see more tiling going in on false walls. And the stairs we came down on, as well as the structure, which will support and supply

Power and data to the platform screen doors, we actually headed one level further down to see the sub platform level, where tons of power and utility lines will be run for the Grand Paris Express. A lot of cables were laid in the trackway instead of on racks

Along the tunnel walls, and that makes this sub platform level a natural place to access them. Coming back up on the other platform, we can see the screen doors and control mechanisms, as well as the frames that they’re going in. You can also see down into

The tunnel for the trains, which is single bore, something I hadn’t realized. And much like Barcelona’s line 9 and 10, you can also see the overhead conductor rail and the floating track slabs, which connect to the rails by what can only be described as false sleepers. From here we headed down the line

To Les Ardoines, which is four stations and 6 east about 7kms south of Austerlitz station on the RER C. This area has historically been very industrial, with logistics, manufacturing, a giant coal fired power station and a big SNCF train yard. But the whole area is going to be redeveloped. Although the coal power

Plant smokestacks will remain as a heritage element. And with tons of mixed use development and the T Zen 5 BRT route, that means this project isn’t just about giving the area a nice metro station, but also a brand new and seriously upgraded train station. Heading through the area,

You can tell a lot is going on from all of the cranes. And you can also see the former RER station building which is not so impressive. Fortunately, just off in the distance you can already see the new metro station rising from the ground. While at Arcueil-Cachan the metro straddles the RER

Here it’s off to one side with an underground connection entering through the headhouse. You really get a sense for what a big upgrade this will be for the RER station. It’s epic. You can also see the new road which will cross the tracks and carry

The new T Zen line off to the side. The new RER station takes the form of a giant overbridge concourse with vertical connections down to the platforms. Formerly there were two side platforms here, but they’re being expanded to two island platforms to allow express trains to also

Stop. You can see the platforms are as they will be when the project is done, though the extra tracks on the outside still need to be laid. It’s all really grand and the platforms are wide and high capacity. You can also see the new vertical connections

Beneath the platforms which will be used for accessing the metro and oh so much train service. Heading down below, you can actually see that the large new pedestrian tunnel which will connect the platforms to the metro is already open. And as you ride the escalator back up to the platform level

And look back, you can really get a sense for the epic scale of the station. It’s a big improvement. Heading back into the headhouse, we started our descent below ground. There are actually a few places in this part of the station which is just back of house utility space, where you can see

The final floor and wall panels have been mocked up. Much like at our previous visit. The station is a maze of back corridors and service spaces. You can even see in one room a giant hole in the ceiling which was left so power transformers can be dropped in in

The future. We eventually got to a big landing which had pads placed down to cover the final flooring, and from here we dropped down to the bottom of the station’s most dramatic space. This cavern has an array of six parallel escalators and two wide staircases with giant struts supporting the

Space above, and giant triangular and diamond shaped cutouts, which I love even more interesting, some of the false cutouts will be used to place sound deadening material to make the station quieter. Finally, we went down to the platforms, which were less far along, and give us an

Impressive look at this level of the station, as well as the overhead power rails and the giant single bore tunnel. Once line 15 is operational, trains will run through here every three to four minutes in both directions, and they’ll hit speeds of over 100 km/hour between stations, moving

Hundreds of thousands of riders every single day. And I have to say, after seeing the scale of the works going on at stations on line 15, and the ones we saw today aren’t even uniquely big, it’s even more impressive how efficiently this is all being built.

After our visits to line 15, we headed even further south to check out line 18. Line 18 is a new automated light metro line which will serve the southwestern suburbs of Paris, connecting from the southern extension of line 14 at Orly Airport through Massy and Palaiseau all the way

Northwest to Versailles, with planned further extensions north to create a second ring around Paris. Line 18 runs through less developed areas than other parts of the Grand Paris Express, and will use slightly smaller trains, more similar in size to existing Paris metro stock and with power provided by third rail, but with connections

From Orly Airport to Ecole Polytechnique as well as Versailles and two major RER and high speed rail stations, it’s still an incredibly important project. Longtime viewers of the channel will know that I kind of have a thing for elevated rail, and what was amazing was seeing the elevated

Guideway, which will carry line 18 through Ecole polytechnique over a valley to a coal normal superior and the University of Paris at Saclay, as well as past various research labs located on the Saclay plateau. While I do think the Vancouver Skytrain guideways look fine, the guideways on line 18 in Paris

Are actually beautiful. These guideways have a thin and subtly curved bridge deck. It’s actually only 20 cm thick at the edge, pairs of elliptical columns with shining silver colors, with pipes to carry away rainwater hidden inside and few hard edges. The guideway profile is actually sort of

Like a stretched t beam, with this center leg forming the emergency escape walkway one great way to block NIMBYs who claim elevated rail is ugly is to design beautiful elevated rail. Off in the distance you can see Moulon Campus station, which will be one of the three elevated stations on the line,

Climbing up onto the guideway. Yes, this is not for those with a fear of heights. We get more views of the station, which is quite far into construction, as well as views of the university campus and of the beautiful surrounding countryside. We actually got walking along the guideway, and soon we were

On the bridge over the valley and motorway below. This bridge is super tall and its construction was super fascinating. Here the dual pillars supporting the guideway turn into dual ones with cross bracing, and then giant monolithic pillars, which had the deck spans built out from them, similar in

Construction to an arch. Suffice to say, riding across this will give you an amazing view. Further along we can see the guideway continuing into the Moulon campus, where there will be another station. And here you can see the sound barriers which play double duty. On one hand, they’ll help reduce noise

So new high density developments can go up around the metro. There are actually also separate devices meant to protect bats. Neat bats. Not only does it connect these major universities with government labs, but it will also relieve the rather impressive busway below us, which also connects to Massy-Palaiseau station.

Departing the site, we got to see the guideway as we drove along, and it was quite impressive looking. A lot of care went into designing this, which isn’t the norm for elevated guideways, but people will clearly appreciate the effort. As we departed, we actually also passed the Christ de Saclay

Station, which will be the terminus of the line until the line further west to Versailles opens. Now, obviously, tbms are being used to dig the tunneled sections of the project, but just as cool on our visit to line 18, we got to see a launching

Gantry, which acts kind of like a TBM does, continually building a tunnel but for a bridge. As we approach, you can see that this section of guideway lowers down onto single columns. And as you can see, the giant gantry is on the bridge up ahead. We

Also noticed a truck was pulling up. Why is this? You’ll see soon construction workers use the gantry to build new sections of bridge. The columns are built beforehand, and then the giant machine crawls and shimmies along them, acting as an overhead crane to lift new pieces of bridge into

Place. This is a very efficient method of construction for elevated guideways. When the guideway is sufficiently long as there is an upfront investment to first acquire the gantry. And as it turns out, this lunging gantry is actually being taken apart to be shipped away. And as we left, we

Actually got to see a piece being loaded onto the truck to go build another elevated rail line somewhere else. All in all, the amount of transit being built in Paris right now is crazy, from the RER E extension to the CDG express train, various tramways and of course the centerpiece, the Grand Paris

Express. And while a lot is being built, they aren’t compromising on quality. These metro lines will probably be studied decades in the future for their forward looking design and the way they helped reshape Paris. And that’s something special. Throughout all of these tours, we were guided along by Francis from the Societe du

Grand Paris, as well as aided in the creation of these videos by Julian, who’s been helping us with Paris related stuff for years. It was a super awesome experience. A special thanks to these guys and thank you for watching.

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The Grand Paris Express is the western world’s largest transit project, and we got to go on an incredible tour behind the scenes to see several of the sites that are fast progressing. Come along and enjoy!

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