Line 4 |
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MP 59 at Cité station |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Rapid transit |
| System | Paris Métro |
| Locale | Paris |
| Termini | Porte de Clignancourt Porte d'Orléans |
| Stations | 26 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1908 |
| Owner | RATP |
| Rolling stock | MP 59, MP 89 |
| Technical | |
| Track length | 10.6 km (6.6 mi) |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge |
Line 4 (French pronunciation: [liɲᵊ katʁᵊ]) is one of the sixteen lines of the Paris Métro rapid transit system. Situated entirely within the boundaries of the City of Paris, it connects Porte de Clignancourt in the north and Porte d'Orléans in the south, travelling across the heart of the city. As a result, it is sometimes called the Clignancourt – Orléans Line. At 10.6 km (6.6 mi) in length, it connects to all of the lines of the Métro apart from the 3bis and 7bis branch lines, as well as all of the RER express lines. Further, it is the second-busiest Métro line after Line 1, carrying over 154 million passengers in 2004.
Line 4 was the first line to connect the Right and Left Banks of Paris via an underwater tunnel built between 1905 and 1907. Line 4 also uses the oldest cars in service on the system, the MP 59, which uses rubber tyres to dissipate the energy of braking power through resistance. Because the MP 59 stock is reaching the end of their useful lives, they are gradually being replaced by the MP 89CC stock from Line 1. The cascading process began on May 23, 2011 with MP 89CC #01 going into service. Ten MP 89CC trains are operating on Line 4 as of December 21, 2011 fr:Ligne 4 du métro de Paris.
For the first time, Line 4 is being extended into the suburbs, specifically southward to a new station, Mairie de Montrouge. Construction on the extension began in 2008 and is expected to open at the end of 2012 [1].
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Line 4, opened in 1908, was the last line of the original concession of the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris and the first to cross the Seine underground (Line 5—now Line 6 at this point—crossed the river on the Passy bridge, later renamed the Pont de Bir-Hakeim in 1906). The route was the subject of lengthy discussions that delayed the start of construction of the tunnel. It was originally planned as a straight line under the Rue du Louvre, under the Seine in line with the street, under the Institut de France, along the Rue de Rennes and then the Boulevard Raspail to the Porte d'Orleans.
But as a result of the delay in beginning the extension of the Rue de Rennes as part of Haussmann's plan to the Seine—which was never carried out—and the outcry from the academics who refused categorically to agree to the line passing under the Institut de France, the route was eventually changed to cross further east through the Place du Châtelet and the Île de la Cité.[1] The new route also has more coherence as a north-south route following the main traffic flows. A second modification of the route was also made: it was decided to make a temporary deviation via the major station of Gare Montparnasse to avoid a further delay in opening the line, which was eagerly awaited. This was made necessary by the delay in building the new Boulevard Raspail between Rue de Rennes and Boulevard du Montparnasse.[2] Once the Boulevard Raspail was completed, it was planned to take the shorter route and bypass the Gare Montparnasse. To the south of the Vavin station the tunnel provides for the final route along the Boulevard Raspail. But the value in serving three major mainline stations by the line later led to the abandonment of this proposal.[3]
In 1905 construction was started by the company of Léon Chagnaud—a former mason from Creuse (a department with a tradition of supplying building workers in France)—and line 4 became the first to cross the Seine underground. The method used for crossing under the river is that of metal caissons, twenty to forty meters in length mounted on the banks and sunken vertically in the river bed. The ends of the caissons were blocked and they were towed to their location before being ballasted with water and sunk in the riverbed. A chamber filled with pressurised air was built at the lower level of these caissons so that workers could excavate under the caissons. Each caisson gradually sank to its final position as the ground below it was removed. The northern stream of the Seine required three caissons, the southern stream two caissons.
The crossing of the Seine also involved the freezing of saturated ground between the station of Saint-Michel and the Seine, under the line of the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (now RER line C) in 1908 and 1909. The installation of two refrigeration plants allowed the movement of brine cooled to −25 °C in dozens of tubes to stabilize the ground.[4]
The northern section was the first completed: it was opened on 21 April 1908 from Porte de Clignancourt to Châtelet. The southern section was opened 30 on October 1909 from Porte d'Orleans to Raspail. The two sections were connected on 9 January 1910. However, the line was closed to traffic a few days later in January 1910, when the level of the Seine broke its banks during the worst flood of the century. On the morning of 24 January 1910, a significant inflow of water at the Seine crossing interrupted services between Châtelet and Vavin, although services were restored later in the day. But the inflow increased and services were again halted in the afternoon. On 26 January Châtelet station and the crossing under the river was completely flooded and slowly rose in the tunnel. On the night of 27 and 28 January, flooding reached Réaumur – Sébastopol and eventually Gare de l'Est: The line at its minimum was reduced to operating between Clignancourt and Gare du Nord and between Vavin and Porte d'Orleans. The fall in the level of flooding during February allowed a gradual resumption of operations, but full service was not restored to 6 April after repair of extensive damage caused to the infrastructure.[5]
During the politically turbulent 1930s, Line 4 had its own drama: on 27 July 1934, a package left in a carriage was carried into the office of its chief supervisor, located on the platform of Montparnasse. The package exploded, killing the chief supervisor and another officer and wounding four passengers. The assassins were never found.[6]
During World War II the most violent bombing Paris suffered was on the night of 20 and 21 April 1944 when the rail freight yard of la Chapelle and the main truck workshop at Rue Championnet were hit. The roof of the Simplon station was hit by a bomb and it collapsed on the tracks and platforms. After repairs the line was brought back into service a few days later.[7]
The RATP was satisfied by experimentation with rubber tyres on Line 11 beginning in 1956. It therefore decided to equip lines 1 and 4 for rubber-tyre operations, which can increase line capacity by providing better acceleration and decelerations as a result of a much superior grip.
In the early 1960s these two lines were the two busiest on the network, with loads of 140% of capacity during the evening peak. However, as this change alone was insufficient to overcome this saturation, the length of stations was lengthened from 75 to 90 metres, allowing the lengthening of train from five to six carriages. This work was carried out very quickly and, as early as October 1965, trains of six carriages traversed the line. On 3 October 1966, the first train composed of MP 59 electric multiple units operated on the line. The Line 4 trains were identical to those on Line 1, being composed of four motor and two trailers per train. The line’s MP 59 fleet included 556 carriages, comprising 376 powered carriages and 180 trailers. On 17 July 1967, the last steel-wheeled train left the line to strengthen the service of other with a hundred cars built before 1914 scrapped.[8] In February 1971, line 4 was the second network after line 11 to be equipped with semi-automatic operation, with a system known as Grecque (“Greek”). This allowed trains once started by the driver to run automatically and stop at the next station.[9]
Since its opening the only change of the route of the line took place in early October 1977 with the deviation of the line with the relocation of the station at Les Halles. During the excavation of the enormous Les Halles complex the station of Les Halles was relocated about ten metres further east to allow a shorter connection to Châtelet – Les Halles RER station. For this, three hundred and thirty meters of tunnel were built to join the old route. The changeover took place on three consecutive nights from 10 pm on Friday, 30 September 1977 to the beginning of services on Monday, 3 October. On the first night, the new Line 2 was connected, on the second night, the Line 1 was built and on the last night it was connected.[10]
On 6 August 2005 at 4:42 pm, a fire on a train at Simplon due to the malfunction of a circuit breaker caused the evacuation of two MP 59 trains with 19 people mildly affected. The fire was extinguished by fire fighters at around 6:00 pm.[11]
The RATP began to gradually replace the aging MP 59 stock with the MP 89CC stock from Line 1 in April, 2011, as the project to fully automate Line 1 is nearing completion. The introduction of new rolling stock for Line 1 (the MP 05) allowed the RATP to transfer the MP 89CC stock to Line 4 to replace the MP 59. Testing of the MP 89 during overnight hours took place in 2010, with the first train (#01) to be transferred to Line 4 in April, 2011 and enter service on May 23, 2011. A second train (#44) entered service on September 10, 2011. A third train (#14) entered service in on October 26, 2011, followed by #s 20, 29, 30, and 31 in November, 2011, and #s 34, 38, & 40 in December , 2011 fr:Ligne 4 du métro de Paris[2]. It is expected that the cascading process will speed up once the MP 05 begin to debut on Line 1 (expected in November, 2011). However, due to Line 4 only having one garage at Saint Ouen, numerous trains must be stored within the tunnels at night. Additionally, only a limited number of MP 59 stock can be removed from service each month, making the cascading process slower than originally predicted [3].
It is expected that a majority of the MP 59 stock will be scrapped. However, trains that are in better condition are expected to be transferred to Line 11.
A one-station extension to the south is currently underway, with the new station (Mairie de Montrouge) expected to be open to the public in 2012.
The line is planned to be extended further south after that with two more stations: Verdun Sud at the frontier between Montrouge and Bagneux (in Montrouge) and Bagneux. In October, 2011, the STIF announced that construction of the Bagneux extension will begin in 2014, with opening expected in 2019 [4].
An extension to the north to the "docks" of Saint-Ouen (an urban redevelopment project next to the Seine) via Mairie de Saint-Ouen is planned for phase 1 (2007–2013) of the Schéma directeur de la région Île-de-France ("Master Plan for the Île-de-France region", SDRIF), which was adopted by resolution of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France on 25 September 2008.[12] However no detailed studies have been carried out or finance set aside for it.
The line is expected to be converted to an automated system (like Line 14), after conversion of Line 1 is completed.
Metro line 4 passes near several places of interest :
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