Paris, France--Underlining the significance of the occasion,
French President Jacques Chirac recently launched the driverless, fully automated
"Meteor" line of the Paris subway system--the first new line built in the French
capital since 1935.
Funding for the $1 billion, 7.5-kilometer (4.66-mile) line, which cost about $250
million per mile, was shared among the national government, the Paris region, the Paris
transit authority (RATP), and local government jurisdictions in the metropolitan area.
The 14 train sets of six cars each that constitute the present rolling stock of Line
14, the official name of the Meteor, run on rubber tires and pneumatic suspension bogies
practically without vibration. The current capacity of 25,000 passengers an hour in each
direction is expected to increase to 40,000 an hour when train lengths increase to eight
cars and rush-hour headways, now 105 seconds, will drop to 85 seconds. Already, the new
line has begun to relieve congestion on the main line of the Paris Metro (Line A), which
has been carrying an overload of 62,000 passengers per hour during rush hours.
Annual ridership on the line over its first few years is projected at 55 million, and
is expected to increase substantially when its full 20-km (12.5-mile) length is reached in
the next century.
The first phase of the extension is under construction and is expected to open in 2003.
Within a week of the line opening, the millionth passenger was presented with a bottle
of Champagne and a pass good for a year of free travel on the Metro system. Serge
LeGrange, the manager of Line 14, said at a news conference marking the occasion that RATP
anticipates 120,000 daily passengers on the new line within six months.
The future extension of the line will parallel development of a new mixed-use project
on former industrial land on the left bank of the Seine, for which planners project
500,000 square miles of housing and 900,000 square miles of office, educational, and
cultural facilities.
Riders reach the platforms of the new line by way of a mezzanine that straddles the
tracks, allowing an unobstructed view up and down the line. The platforms are equipped
with safety glass doors that slide open automatically the same instant the train doors
open, eliminating the risk of passengers falling onto the tracks. For the hard of hearing,
light signals are activated at the same time as the chimes warning passengers that the
doors are about to close.
The interiors of each car have slash-resistant seating and graffiti-proof foil, and are
surveyed by CCTV cameras connected to a central security post. The cameras also observe
the station platforms.
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