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Line 1 – A crucial artery
Line 1 is the oldest line in the metro network, and also the busiest, with 213 million passengers now using the service each year (up from 160 million in 2006).
Opened on 19 July 1900, it originally linked Porte Maillot to Porte de Vincennes, before being extended to Château de Vincennes in 1934, Pont de Neuilly in 1937 and La Défense on 31 March 1992. It is 16.6 km long and has 25 stations.
The most prestigious line in the Paris metro
Linking east to west, line 1 contains a number of important connection points and runs alongside some of the city’s most popular tourist attractions (Château de Vincennes, the Marais, Les Halles, the Louvre, the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe, etc.), as well as venues for major events (Place de la Nation, the Paris-Bastille Opera, Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, the Grand Palais, etc.).
A critical line
A critical artery, extending beyond Paris, with irregular and constantly increasing traffic
The line is home to 16 of the 50 busiest stations in the network, including five of RATP’s multimodal hubs (La Défense, Charles de Gaulle–Étoile, Châtelet, Gare de Lyon and Nation).
Stretching from Puteaux to Vincennes, via Courbevoie, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris and Saint-Mandé, it serves not only Paris itself but also the neighbouring departments of Val-de-Marne and Hauts-de-Seine. 60% of the line's passengers do not live in Paris.
Its route, which takes in multiple connection points, popular areas and employment centres, makes it very sensitive to variations in demand, and it is regularly overcrowded during peak periods.
Furthermore, traffic on the line is often disrupted by incidents, a problem that the automation project will make it possible to alleviate significantly.
Ageing equipment
The main equipment used on line 1 dates back to the first wave of modernisation undertaken between 1955 and 1975, which saw the introduction of automatic control and centralised control rooms (PCCs), although trains with inter-vehicle gangways have been used on the line since 1997.
The signal boxes at Porte Maillot and Château de Vincennes were built in 1964 and 1966 respectively. The centralised control room, the metro’s first, dates back to 1967, and has already been partially renovated twice. The automatic control system, installed in 1972, was one of the first in the RATP’s networks. In order to tackle the challenges of the next four decades, it was necessary to renew this equipment.
| First
commissioned in 1964, the computerised signal box (PMI) at Porte Maillot has
been completely modernised. New points and crossing were installed in November
2008, and all control systems were replaced with computerised solutions one
year later. This old signal box used to control train departures, stabling and de-stabling, the different routes to be followed in special circumstances, and the associated switching operations. |
