PARIS | RER & Suburban Rail

[Minato ku]

A thread about the famous RER system of Paris.

Central network of the RER at a geographically accurate scale


Vector map of the network


schematic map


Introduction by Wikipedia

The RER is a hybrid system, being an integration of modern city-centre subway and pre-existing regional rail. Within the city of Paris, the RER serves as an express network offering multiple connections to the Paris Métro. The essential central part of the RER was completed by a massive civil engineering effort between 1962 and 1977, and features some unusually spacious deep stations. As of 2007 the network comprises five lines: A, B, C, D and E. The RER is still expanding today — Line E was inaugurated in 1999, and seems a likely candidate for future extension.

The RER currently serves 256 stops and runs over 587 km (365 miles) of track, including 76.5 km (48 miles) underground. 33 stops are served inside the city of Paris itself. Each line crosses the city proper almost exclusively underground and on dedicated tracks. Due to its hybrid nature, some parts of RER lines are operated by the city transport authority managing the Métro (RATP) and others by the national rail company (SNCF). In 2004, 782.9 million journeys were made on the five lines of the RER

[...]

The Paris RER is often compared with other urban rail networks which serve outer suburbs while fully crossing the city. Examples included the German and Austrian S-Bahn, the Spanish Cercanías, and indeed the identically-named RER networks of French-speaking Switzerland and (in construction) Brussels.

However, there are two specificities of the Paris RER not to be found in most other systems. Firstly, each RER line runs on independent dedicated track (except the tunnel between Gare du Nord and Châtelet, used by both lines B and D), with dedicated platforms in those stations shared with other networks. This feature allows an especially high traffic frequency, which on some lines even exceeds that of the Paris Métro - a situation which in Europe is unique to Paris.

Secondly, the Paris RER serves almost exclusively the Paris urban area, reaching very few satellite towns. The exceptions are the Southern branch of line C and the outer sections of line D. The compactness of the Paris conurbation can account for a good deal of the RER's more limited reach, as can the sprawling nature of the suburban SNCF network. This also explains why train frequencies on the RER central network are even higher than on the Paris métro network (as high as one train every 90 seconds on RER A during rush hour).

For Paris metro see here
Paris metro Thread

[Minato ku]

Picture taken by me


1. Laplace station

2.

3.

4.

[iampuking]

Does the RER have any express services once in the suburbs?

[Minato ku]

Originally Posted by m@rco

The "automotrices Z" are olders than the MS 61...
These cars were built between 1939 and 1961 and were used firstly on the "ligne de Sceaux" and then for RER B services from 1970 to 1987. The MS61 have started to run on the "ligne de Sceaux" in 1967 (http://www.navily.net/matosrer.php)

In Denfert-Rochereau station (RER B). Pictures taken in 1991 during an exhibition.
First livery:









RER livery:







In 1977 in Denfert-Rochereau:



In 1985:


http://www.metro-pole.net/

RER A in 1970, at this time this part of the RER A was called St Germain line.




It was only called RER on December 9, 1977 with the joining of the Nation-Boissy (Vincenne line) and Auber-Saint-Germain-en-Laye (St Germain line) segments as the eastern and western halves of the RER Line A at the just-completed hub station of Châtelet - Les Halles in the heart of Paris. The southern Ligne de Sceaux was simultaneously extended from its terminus at Luxembourg to meet Line A at Châtelet – Les Halles, becoming the new Line B. The system of line letters was introduced to the public on this occasion, though it had been used internally at RATP and SNCF for some time already

[Minato ku]

Originally Posted by iampuking

Does the RER have any express services once in the suburbs?

Yes it has.

[iampuking]

Originally Posted by Minato ku

Yes it has.

Which lines, or all?

[macpolo]

ive spend one year in it

last year i live in orsay ville and study in nanterre universite,so......

[Minato ku]

Originally Posted by iampuking

Which lines, or all?

Maybe all, I am not sure for the RER A, but I know that the RER B, C, D and E have express services.

[Minato ku]

After I red some information, yes the RER A have express service.
_____________________________________________________________






RER A is Europe's busiest line with over 1,000,000 passenger/day. Line A is formed from the connection across Paris of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye-Nanterre line in the west to the Vincennes — Boissy-St-Léger line in the east. Two branches were added in the West, to Poissy and the 'ville nouvelle' of Cergy, and another in the East, to the ville nouvelle of Marne-la-Vallée. The two latest extensions of the line were to Cergy-Le Haut and Disneyland Resort Paris.

Line A has been a runaway success since its inauguration and has now over 60,000 passenger per hours in rush hours
Ever-increasing traffic volume and the need to ward off imminent saturation have been major factors in RATP and SNCF's planning since the inauguration of the Line A. At least five major capital investment decisions can be directly traced back to this issue:

• In the early 1980s RATP contracted German conglomerate Siemens to develop a dynamic traffic control system that would remove the capacity constraints caused by conventional block traffic management. This system, called SACEM (Système d'aide à la conduite, à l'exploitation et à la maintenance), remains today one of the world's most advanced traffic control systems and enables extremely short spacing (under 90 seconds in stations, under 2 minutes in tunnels) between trains during rush hour. (Parisians have become used to the sight of a train pulling into a station as the one before it is just clearing the platform.)
• Around the same time, RATP had to order a significant number of additional MI79/MI84 trains to remedy premature wear and tear on its existing MS61 rolling stock caused by over-utilization of Line A.
• Later in the 1980s, the need to relieve congestion on the central segment of Line A was a key factor in selecting the route of the new, fully automated Line 14 (also known as METEOR) of the Métro.
• The same need governed the choice of the route of RER Line E in the early 1990s and is a factor in current plans for that line's westward or south-westward extension.
• An entirely new class of double-decker trains (MI 2N series) entered service in 1998, in part a product of RATP's belief that no further infrastructure improvement (short of an extremely expensive track quadrupling) would relieve congestion on Line A.

One simple (if partial) solution to the congestion problem that has never been implemented is a change in the seating configuration inside the trains themselves. The RER is unusual among high-capacity urban train networks in its attachment to "transversal" (front and back facing) seating. A change to "longitudinal" (sideways window-lining) seating typically reduces the number of seats by 10% but increases standing room by 30%. The result is increased capacity and a less cramped ride for those without seats.


Picture of Metropole


I really like the RER A rollling stocks.

MS 61.



MS 61 Refurbished


MI 84


MI2N


Pictures of Wikipedia

[eklips]

The D line is long as hell! I never knew that, how long does it take to go from one terminus to the other?

[Minato ku]

I am not sure that you can.

The RER D is the longest (160 km) and the worst RER line.
It is called the trash RER,
Information in french Here

This cheap RER line have big exploitation problem, it use the busy RER B tracks between Chatelet and Gare du Nord and have a high irregularty rate with low frequency.

For me it is not a real RER line.

[Augusto]

Originally Posted by Minato ku

I am not sure that you can.

The RER D is the longest (160 km) and the worst RER line.

It also has the worst rolling stock in my opinion (the Z20500 EMU).

[Minato ku]

Line B was the product of the connection in 1977 of the Ligne de Sceaux terminus, Luxembourg, with the Gare du Nord via Châtelet - Les Halles. In 1988 St-Michel - Nôtre-Dame station between Luxembourg and Châtelet - Les Halles was opened to provide connection with RER C and Métro Line 10 at Cluny - La Sorbonne, a station which had been closed since the beginning of the second world war and was entirely renovated for the occasion.

The southern part of the line (south of Gare du Nord) is operated by RATP, the northern part by SNCF. Trains are owned by either company. Drivers change at Gare du Nord. Trains moving from one network to the other at this station is known as the Interconnexion. Technical difficulties of the interconnection include: the shared tunnel with RER D between Châtelet - Les Halles and Gare du Nord, and the fact that while the northern suburbs use 25 kV AC current, the RATP part uses 1500 V DC, forcing the use of dual-voltage trains.

With 850,000 passengers per day it is the second busiest line in Paris

Rolling stocks

MI 79




MI 84
Similar at the Mi 79, see RER A

[eklips]

The best line

[Minato ku]

The southern part is really beautiful.
I live not far of it.

[iampuking]

Originally Posted by Minato ku

RER A is Europe's busiest line with over 1,000,000 passenger/day.

Isn't Moscow's Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line (purple line) the busiest?

[Minato ku]

Surely french statist often "miss" Russia in Europe
So it is the busiest in western Europe

[Minato ku]

The RER C, like the RER D for me it is not a real RER.

by De Snor

[Metropolitan]

Originally Posted by iampuking

Isn't Moscow's Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line (purple line) the busiest?

Actually, this would deserve to be double checked.

We have only old and partial data for the RER A. The 273 million annual trafic figure in 2004 excludes the SNCF sections of the line (branches to Cergy and Poissy). Furthermore, traffic has massively increased on the RER in the recent years (mainly due to Deloanöe's policy to limit automobile traffic). Finally, datas for the Moscow metro are about daily ridership whereas those of RER are about annual ridership, and the conversion between both figures isn't that easy.

Well, all this to say that Moscow's purple line may be busier than the RER A, but this is really not sure.

[stefanguti]

Merci bcp, j'adore les RER a Paris!
Thanks!