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Paris Métro Line 11 (
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
: ''Ligne 11 du métro de Paris'') is one of the sixteen lines of the
Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...
. It links to in the northeastern suburbs. This line was one of the last to be put into service in 1935; it was then intended to replace the Belleville funicular tramway, which closed in 1924. The line is 11.7 km (7.3 mi) in length with 19 stations. Before its 2024 extension, it was one of the least used lines, with less than forty million passengers in 2023. The
RATP The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under the name (). Its logo represents the Seine's meandering path th ...
expects thirty-one million more in 2025, with this extension to four major municipalities in
Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...
. During the 1950s and 1960s, the line was an experimental line for innovations developed by the RATP. As such, in 1956, it was the first metro line in the world to be equipped with rubber tyres; it was also equipped with a centralised control station and
automatic train operation Automatic train operation (ATO) is a method of operating trains automatically where the driver is not required or is required for supervision at most. Alternatively, ATO can be defined as a subsystem within the automatic train control, which pe ...
in 1967, which was used for the first time on the Paris network. It was extended from to on 13 June 2024, almost doubling its length and adding six stations. A proposed extension to as part of the
Grand Paris Express The Grand Paris Express (; GPE) is a project consisting of new rapid transit lines and the extension of existing lines being built in the Île-de-France region of France. The project comprises four new lines for the Paris Métro, plus extensions ...
project has been postponed indefinitely.


History

The supplementary network approved in 1909 provided for a short line linking the
Place de la République The Place de la République (; English: Republic Square; known until 1879 as the Place du Château d'Eau, ) is a square in Paris, located on the border between the 3rd, 10th and 11th arrondissements. The square has an area of .Warner, p. 250 ...
to the Porte des Lilas. This section was declared to be of public utility by the law of 30 March 1910 but was not built. On 29 December 1922, the Paris City Council relaunched the project and voted to create a line to better serve the working-class neighbourhoods of north-east Paris by connecting the Belleville district to the Châtelet district in the city centre. This line was intended to replace the Belleville funicular tramway and the bus lines in the north-east of the capital. It would connect
Châtelet station Châtelet station () is a station of the Paris Métro and Île-de-France's RER commuter rail service, located in the centre of medieval Paris, on the border between the 1st and 4th arrondissements. It serves RER A, B and D, as well as line ...
(on Avenue Victoria) to the Porte des Lilas via the Place de la République. The line was originally intended to follow Rue de Belleville for its entire length, but a change in the route ultimately allowed it to serve
Place des Fêtes station Place des Fêtes () is a station of the Paris Métro, serving lines 7bis (towards Pré Saint-Gervais only) and 11 in the 19th arrondissement and the Belleville district. It is one of the deepest stations in the metro, at 22.45 m underground ...
in order to provide a connection with Line 7 (on its then route), at the cost of passing under buildings for around . Similarly, it was planned to connect and stations by making the route as short as possible, with two stations under the narrow Rue du Temple, but the final route runs further west via and the new
Rambuteau station Rambuteau station () is a station on Line 11 of the Paris Métro in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in central Paris. It is named after the nearby Rue Rambuteau, which was named after Claude-Philibert Barthelot, ''Comte de Rambuteau'' (1781 - ...
. The section from Place de la République to Avenue Victoria was declared to be of public utility by a decree of 14 May 1925. Work began in September 1931, with the exception of the structure under the Place de la République, which had been built at the same time as lines 8 and 9. It took place in fairly difficult conditions, as the line passed under narrow streets and the foundations of some buildings. The passages under the Coteaux collector, the Saint-Martin canal and above a tunnel on the Petite Ceinture were also tricky. The construction of the and
Télégraphe station Télégraphe () is a station on Line 11 of the Paris Métro in the 19th and 20th arrondissements. It is named after the nearby rue de Télégraphe, which was once a ''chemin de ronde'' (a raised protected walkway behind a battlement) of the p ...
s also proved difficult, given their great depth, , and the fairly unstable nature of the ground, made up of inconsistent green clay. To the south, near the
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
, the line was built in alluvial soil containing a
water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...
. Despite these difficulties, the infrastructure was handed over to the
Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris The Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris S.A. (Paris Metropolitan Railway Company Ltd.), or CMP, was a subsidiary of the Empain group that is the forerunner of the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, RATP, the company managing ...
(CMP) on 3 May 1934 after two and a half years of work. The last line of the network created before old line 14, it had to pass under all the other metro lines, with the exception of part of line 3, which became 3 bis, at Porte des Lilas. Line 11 was inaugurated on 28 April 1935. On this occasion, (lines 1 and 4) and ''Pont Notre-Dame - Pont au Change'' ( line 7) stations were connected by a corridor to the line 11 station and united under the name Châtelet in 1934. The new line was -long and had twelve stations, all
vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
, with a platform length of . The line was then served by twenty-two four-car trains. A first extension to ''Fort de Rosny'' was declared to be of public utility in 1929. But it was necessary to wait until 7 February 1937 to see the line extended by a single station to , the only station in this town, which became the 13th station and terminus of the line. The continuation of this extension was interrupted by the Second World War. During the war, on 12 May 1944, the German army requisitioned the line to establish its underground weapons workshops and closed the line to traffic. Indeed, built at great depth, it was out of reach of the bombs that hit the city. After the
Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...
, the operation of the metro gradually resumed with difficulty because of the shortage of coal and therefore of electric traction current, but line 11 was the only one that remained closed as a result of serious deterioration of its infrastructure, including the removal of part of the tracks by the Germans. It was necessary to wait until 5 March 1945 for the reopening to the public after essential refurbishment.


The experiment of the metro line on rubber tyres

Experimentation with rubber-tyred rail vehicles dates back to the 1930s. Rubber-tyred equipment has the advantage of better acceleration and deceleration, which in turn increases the throughput of a line, which is particularly noticeable on a metro line with frequent and closely spaced stops. The technology also reduces rolling noise and vibrations. In 1950, the first tyres with metal reinforcement appeared on the market, capable of supporting a load of with wheels with a diameter of less than . The
RATP The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under the name (). Its logo represents the Seine's meandering path th ...
conducted a test campaign in 1951 on the shuttle track, with a prototype, the
MP 51 The MP 51 (:fr:MP_51, fr) was the first rubber-tyred metro prototype operated by the RATP Group, Régie autonome des transports parisiens (English: ''Autonomous Parisian Transportation Administration'', ''RATP'') on the Paris Métro, Paris Metro ...
. From 13 April 1952, the public was admitted every afternoon to take the shuttle, which continued its tests until 31 May 1956. The tests proving conclusive, it was then decided to use this technology on line 11, which had the particularity of being quite short, winding and very steep, in order to test this new technology on a full-scale secondary line before generalising it on the network, which the RATP planned. The line was converted to run on rubber tyres from 1954 to 1956. The work was mainly carried out at night so as not to disrupt the operation of the line; however, the service was reduced by one hour in the evening. Four methods of laying of the tyre tracks were tried, responding to two opposing concepts. One consisted of limiting as much as possible the modification work to be carried out, thus keeping the ballast supporting the track as it was. The other consisted of taking advantage of the fact that the elasticity of the track support was no longer useful, it being now supported by the tyres, which made it possible to eliminate the regular interventions to re-tamp the ballast which were necessary to ensure correct track geometry. The ''T-layout'' consisted of bolting azobé bearing parts onto the sleeper heads placed on the ballast; the ''D-layout'' fixed the bearing parts onto concrete blocks or blocks cast onto the foundation raft; the I-layout was similar but with injection of cement mortar into the ballast and the S-layout was adopted in stations, with the azobé bearing parts resting on concrete walls cast onto the foundation raft. This latter arrangement improved the appearance and maintenance of the track and reduced the severity of accidents involving people (accidental falls onto the track or suicide) by the presence of a central pit. The line was equipped with the new MP 55 sets from 1 October 1956 to November 1957, replacing the old Sprague sets, the last of which left the line for good on 11 October 1957. The first rubber-tyred train was inaugurated on 8 November 1956 and the new operation of line 11 began on 13 November 1956, the first day of commercial service. The old sets on the line were then gradually transferred as new sets were delivered, in order to strengthen the service on line 2, the trains of which were increased from four to five cars in June 1958. The surplus equipment allowed twenty-nine motor cars and thirty-seven trailers to be removed from service, most of which dated back to 1908 and 1909. In 1967, the line was equipped with a centralised control centre and automated train operation, which was used for the first time on the Parisian network. The MP 55 sets were gradually withdrawn from 1982 to 1999 and replaced by
MP 59 The MP 59 (; ) was a rubber-tyred variant of electric multiple units used on the Paris Métro system in service from 1963 to 2024. Manufactured by a consortium between CIMT-Lorraine (body), Jeumont-Schneider (control circuits), Alsthom a ...
sets, from line 4. Line 11 had not seen any significant development since that date until the commissioning of the new centralised control centre at Bagnolet on 1 June 2021. The design of the rolling stock and the steep gradient of the route make it one of the hottest lines on the Paris network, along with line 4. As part of the extension of the line from Mairie des Lilas to Rosny-Bois-Perrier, most of the stations underwent renovation and adaptation work, including the creation of new access points. The rear yard at Châtelet, which was too short to accommodate the future five-car MP 14 metro trains, had to be extended in a restricted space under buildings. To carry out this exceptional work, it was necessary to temporarily terminate the line at Hôtel de Ville. The closure at Châtelet, effective on 18 March 2019 was supposed to last until 16 December, but the transport strike which broke out on 5 December 2019 almost completely paralysed operations on the line, so the line was not reopened until 31 December 2019.


Extension to Rosny-Bois-Perrier

The municipalities of
Romainville Romainville () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, located in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. Location It is located from the center of Paris. History On 24 July 1867, a part of the territory of Romainville was detached ...
,
Noisy-le-Sec Noisy-le-Sec () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Population Heraldry Transport Noisy-le-Sec is served by Noisy-le-Sec station on Paris RER line E. Education Schools:< ...
,
Montreuil Montreuil is a French place name derived from Medieval Latin , "Little Monastery". It most often refers to Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis (aka Montreuil-sous-Bois), a French commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Seine-St-Denis department. It ma ...
and
Rosny-sous-Bois Rosny-sous-Bois () is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. It is the seat of the national centre of road information of the national French Gendarmerie, g ...
, as well as the council of
Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobi ...
, had proposed a project to extend the line from to , an additional to be covered in 12 minutes, with the full journey taking, according to the RATP, 24 minutes from Châtelet to Rosny-Bois-Perrier, compared to 55 minutes at the time. This involved implementing in a new form a project that was over a century old. This extension allows an interconnection with the
RER E RER E is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. The line travels between western and eastern suburbs, with all ...
, as well as service from Paris, by metro, to the Rosny 2 shopping centre. One of the new stations, , also provides an interconnection with the future extension of the T1 tramway to the south, the new terminus of which would be at Val de Fontenay. The metro line 15 east project, which will open after the extension of line 11, will also have a station at Rosny-Bois-Perrier, eventually allowing an additional connection at this station. All the new stations would be accessible to people with reduced mobility and new rolling stock, the MP 14, would be put into service on this occasion, in a five-car layout (instead of four since the beginning). According to RATP studies financed by the 2000-2006 State-Region project contract (''Contrat de plan État-région'', CPER), this extension would increase the number of passengers on line 11 by 68,700 each working day. The public consultation launched in 2010 estimated the cost of the project at €820m, to which should be added €140m for the renewal of rolling stock and around €100m for the renovation of existing stations. The agreement approved by the STIF on 7 October 2015 set the financing requirement at €1,084m (
ÃŽle-de-France The ÃŽle-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
region €500.3m; SGP €305.3m; State, €214.4m; Seine-Saint-Denis €64m) for the extension, to which must be added €214m (RATP €73m; Paris City €61m; Region €56m; State €24m) for the adaptation of existing stations and €151m by Île-de-France Mobilités for the renewal of rolling stock. The Region included this project in the Île-de-France Region Master Plan (''Schéma directeur de la région Île-de-France'', SDRIF) adopted by the Île-de-France Regional Council on 25 September 2008. Initially, the SDRIF planned a phasing, with a first extension to between 2007 and 2013, then a second to Rosny-Bois-Perrier between 2014 and 2020. The 2007–2013 CPER project plans to release €10m in study credits for the extension of the line, officially launching the project. These studies began in 2008 and cover the entire project. A financial envelope of €239m (€168m from the Île-de-France region and €71mm from the State) was also voted for several projects, including the extension of line 11. The STIF made public the file of objectives and main characteristics on 9 December 2009. A consultation was carried out from 6 September 2010 to 8 October 2010, the conclusions of which were published at the beginning of February 2011. It proposes two very similar routes: a first of including five stations before arriving from the south at Rosny-Bois-Perrier, and a second of including similar stations plus an above-ground station before arriving from the north to serve the Londeau district. According to the STIF, 10,100 passengers were expected to use this new extension during the morning peak hour. The STIF Council approved the results of the consultation on 9 February 2011. Two trends clearly emerged: route 2 was preferred, because it would allow the opening up of the Londeau district in Noisy-le-Sec and would serve two high schools as well as the Domus and Rosny 2 shopping centres in Rosny-sous-Bois. It would also promote the development of the "concerted development zones" (''zone d'aménagement concerté'', ZACs) in the sector. The studies would therefore focus exclusively on this route. Furthermore, elected officials and residents were resolutely opposed to the phasing of the project: as a result, the STIF planned to carry out the work in a single stage. The public inquiry took place from 16 September to 30 October 2013. The public inquiry commission gave a favourable opinion without reservations. The project was declared to be of public utility on 28 May 2014. After preparatory work launched in 2015, the structural work was due to begin at the end of 2016 with the line scheduled to open by 2023. The plan for this phase was adopted in September 2015. The construction officially began on 10 December 2016. As part of the extension, existing stations were developed, including the creation of new access points. The ''Mairie des Lilas'' and ''Porte des Lilas'' stations were equipped with lifts to provide access for people with reduced mobility; thus, all stations on line 11 between Porte des Lilas and Rosny-Bois-Perrier are now accessible. At the foot of the future
Serge Gainsbourg station Serge Gainsbourg station () is a station on Line 11 of the Paris Métro. The station is located at Place Henri-Dunant at Les Lilas and opened on 13 June 2024. History Name The station was initially given the provisional name of Liberté. It w ...
, a work pit was shown to elected officials at the end of May 2016. The work continued with the digging of a -tunnel from the new La Dhuys station to Les Lilas, while another -section was built in the open, bypassing the Rosny 2 shopping centre. The excavation of the first lot— of tunnel, a -long covered trench and earthworks as well as the installation of diaphragm walls and shafts for the subsequent construction of four metro stations—was awarded to a group led by
Implenia Implenia is a Swiss real estate and construction services company with activities in development and civil engineering in Switzerland and Germany. Implenia is also active in tunneling and related infrastructure construction in Austria, France, S ...
in association with partners in a consortium comprising: NGE, Demathieu Bard and Pizzarotti. The work was due to begin in October 2016. In August 2018, the A86 was closed to traffic for a week between
Rosny-sous-Bois Rosny-sous-Bois () is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. It is the seat of the national centre of road information of the national French Gendarmerie, g ...
and
Nogent-sur-Marne Nogent-sur-Marne () is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Nogent-sur-Marne is a ''Subprefectures in France, sous-préfecture'' of the Val-de-Marne ''Depar ...
to allow the sliding of a -engineering structure to be installed under the roadway between the future and stations. In June 2019, the opening of the extension was officially postponed until 2023. On 20 September 2019, in the presence of the regional prefect Michel Cadot, the president of the Region
Valérie Pécresse Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (; Birth name, née Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council (France), President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republic ...
and the mayor of Paris
Anne Hidalgo Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 19 June 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). Hidalg ...
, the RATP names the tunnel boring machine ''Sofia'' (after the station agent of line 11, Sofia Amalou), which began to dig the tunnel between Les Lilas and Rosny-sous-Bois on 16 December. It arrived at Serge Gainsbourg station, its exit point, on 16 July 2021. In February 2023, Île-de-France Mobilités announced that the line would be closed every Sunday between July and August 2023 to allow the extension work to be accelerated. The extension's entry into service was postponed until spring 2024. The extension was inaugurated and put into service on 13 June 2024, as announced a month earlier.


Chronology

*29 December 1922: Paris council voted for the creation of a new metro line which would replace the Belleville funicular and which would be extended to Châtelet. *28 April 1935: Line 11 was inaugurated from Châtelet to Porte des Lilas. *17 February 1937: The line was extended from Porte des Lilas to Mairie des Lilas. *8 November 1956: Due to steep slopes, the rails were adapted to allow for rubber-tyred trains. *1 June 2023: Cascading of MP 59 to MP 14CC rolling stock begins. *23 May 2024: Ceremonial withdrawn of MP 59. *12 June 2024: The final MP 59 trainsets are retired from service. *13 June 2024: The line was extended from Mairie des Lilas to Rosny–Bois-Perrier.


Map


Stations


Rolling stock

Being the first metro line to be converted to rubber-tyred pneumatic operation, the first set of rubber-tyred rolling stock to be in service on Line 11 was the
MP 55 The MP 55 was the first generation of the rubber tired variant of electric multiple units used on Paris's Métro system. The trains were manufactured by a consortium between Renault, Brissonneau et Lotz, and Alstom and operated on Line 11 fro ...
, which operated from October 1956 through January 1999. They were then replaced by refurbished
MP 59 The MP 59 (; ) was a rubber-tyred variant of electric multiple units used on the Paris Métro system in service from 1963 to 2024. Manufactured by a consortium between CIMT-Lorraine (body), Jeumont-Schneider (control circuits), Alsthom a ...
stock from Line 4. The MP 55 stock consisted of 4 carriages, as well as the current MP 59 stock. One
MP 73 The MP 73 (; ) is rolling stock on tires for Paris Métro Line 6. Put into service in 1974, it is similar to the MP 59 performance-wise, with the appearance of MF 67. It originally wore a dark blue livery called (King Blue) but has since ...
of line 6 is in service on the 11 as well. The plan, according to
Île-de-France Mobilités Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) is the governmental authority ( EPA) that controls and coordinates the different companies operating the Paris-area public transport network and the rest of the Île-de-France region. In this capacity, it issu ...
, was to replace the fleet of Line 11 with the series, around the time when the extension to
Rosny-sous-Bois Rosny-sous-Bois () is a Communes of France, commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. It is the seat of the national centre of road information of the national French Gendarmerie, g ...
opened. Although the new trains will be driver-operated in the same method as the current fleet, they will be 5 cars long, and have open gangways.Press release
"Le prolongement de la ligne 11 du métro à Rosny-Bois-Perrier à l’enquête publique en 2013"
STIF, 13 February 2013
An initial 20 trains were ordered in February 2018 with an additional 19 trains ordered in July 2021. Production began in late 2020, with testing in summer 2021. In June 2023, new MP 14 CC (manual transit) were deployed with four new trains entering in service each Tuesdays in exchange of four
MP 59 The MP 59 (; ) was a rubber-tyred variant of electric multiple units used on the Paris Métro system in service from 1963 to 2024. Manufactured by a consortium between CIMT-Lorraine (body), Jeumont-Schneider (control circuits), Alsthom a ...
transferred to Rosny-sous-Bois workshop on Mondays-sunset to be retired. Twenty new MP 14-manuel transit will be deployed until the Summer 2023, nineteen new trains needed to be deployed in spring 2024 due to the extension to . The ceremonial final runs of the MP 59 took place on 23 May 2024. But the last trains withdrawn on June 12, 2024.


Future

A revised plan for the proposed
Grand Paris Express The Grand Paris Express (; GPE) is a project consisting of new rapid transit lines and the extension of existing lines being built in the Île-de-France region of France. The project comprises four new lines for the Paris Métro, plus extensions ...
project was unveiled on 6 March 2013. The revisions call for a second extension of Line 11 towards Noisy-Champs, considered a part of the Grand Paris Express project, by 2030, although it is unclear if this goal will be attainable. Should the second extension commence, it is slated to come with a full automation of Line 11.Nouveau Grand Paris» : l'Etat engage 27 milliards pour le métro parisien
''Les Echos'', 3 June 2013 (In French)
Automation was not implemented with the Rosny extension, though the RATP and STIF had considered the possibility of automating the line later on.


Tourism

Line 11 passes near several places of interest : *The Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) of Paris. *The
Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
accommodating the Paris Museum of Modern Art. *The
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers The (; ; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited French ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement''. It is a member of the '' Conférence des Grandes écoles'', which is an equivalent to the Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in th ...
(engineering school). *The popular quarter of Belleville, hosting one of Paris' "Chinatowns" and centres of other Asian cultures.


See also


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paris Metro Line 11 Railway lines opened in 1935