Le cavesse parisien

What's interesting about Paris? "The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d'Orsay, and Notre Dame," the average tourist will say. But in addition to the official tourist part, Paris is known for its historic subway and even older catacombs. We will talk about the catacombs next time, but now please get under the hat and take a look at the realm of rails and cars.

 

By happy coincidence, samos came to Paris at about the same time as me. A day after I had walked the city's main tourist routes and seen Paris, we met up and went on a run from and after the trains. We started with ghost stations. 

1. Saint-Martin station. Built in the 1930s, it was soon closed to passengers due to the outbreak of World War II. After the war, it was never reopened and became a ghost station. Nowadays it's subject to graffiti raids, like most other places in the Paris Metro.

The station consists of four platforms and connects two subway lines running parallel to each other.

The old platform is made with brick vaults and the newer one with concrete slabs.

On the walls, one could once notice advertisements made of tile, a distinctive feature of early and mid-20th-century advertising.

It used to be possible to get to the crossing on the other platform from here, but now it has been badly closed for trespassers.

So you have to cross from platform to platform on the tracks by stepping over the contact rail. In the Paris subway, the current draw is from above, so it's open.

From the station, there's a service line to the line 3. Let's go there.

The SL runs for about 500 meters, curving gently to the left.

Occasionally there are junctions with the tunnel to Sain-Martin.

We get off at the new station and go to another place. 

2. Croix Rouge station. Although it is called the Red Cross, the history of the station name has nothing to do with the International Committee of the Red Cross. It is so called because it is located under the Carrefour de Croix-Rouge square, now renamed Michel Debret square. The station was not very impressive, so only four photos.

3. Then we went to take pictures of various service lines. We were interested in one that curved into a viaduct under the main tracks. Lazy explorers photographing the tunnels from the platform.

(no). We did end up there.

We wanted to continue forward, but who knows how this adventure would have ended had we not heard voices from the SSV. Not wanting any troubles, we returned. A couple of pictures and out we go.

Yes, 200-300 meters between stations.

4. RER station. The RER trains go from the city center to the region and sometimes from the region to another region transiting through the center. In order not to load the surface part of the city by rail, the government of Paris decided to hide the stations and trains underground. By the way, those trains are mostly double-decker. We get into the tunnel right next to the train station.

The traffic interval here is completely unpredictable. We encountered both a 30-second and a 3-minute interval. The diameter of the tunnels is enormous. The only difference from the subway is the contact suspension on top. There in the distance is a waiting train shining its headlights.

The train passes, and we run further down the tunnel.

A large chamber with two portals for trains from the center and to the station.

To the train station the tracks go under one arch.

One of the tunnels. There is a banquette on the side that is comfortable to run on.

So the train enters it.

The junction. No pictures after that, because after that something extremely similar to our noticing was going on. The train stopped in the tunnel to the train station and stood there for several minutes. We had to evacuate the spare tunnel in an emergency through the nearest ventilation shaft.

5. A long service line between the three lines, the turnaround dead end, and the depot. We hoped to find a three-level SL with bridges, but it wasn't too bad either.

Already familiar view of the tunnels.

Train control system.

And a switch to another line. Here, by the way, the trains run on rubber wheels. If you look closely, you can see wide metal rails. That's what the trains are riding on.

A look back.

And run further toward the depot. This is where the train wash is located.

A view of the portal to the street and the turnaround.

Attention to the tracks. The depot is for both regular trains and those with rubber tires. Go left - you get to the depot, right - you find a dead end, go straight - you get out of SL. That's where we're going.

- Oh, the camera! 

- Where's the camera? 

- There. 

- All right, let's go. 

- Oh, more cameras! 

- Lol.

The SL led us to the end station of another line. This is where the trains turn around.

And there it is, the end point of our subway trip. The station. Picking up our tripods on the run and catching up with the train to the station, we run onto the platform past the guard booth, get on this very train, and departed.

Until we meet again!