Ligne 8 Heritage

Metro line 8: a line and its history

On 13 July 1913, metro line 8 was commissioned, linking Beaugrenelle station (now known as Charles Michels station on metro line 10) to Opéra station. Here is its story. 

Summary

  1. Arrival of new trains on metro line 8
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Metro line 8 turns 110 years old! Here is a summary of its many extensions.

The line was commissioned on 13 July 1913 between Beaugrenelle and Opéra stations, and then extended to Porte d’Auteuil station in September the same year. Invalides and Concorde stations were opened later, in December 1913, and in March 1914 respectively.

montage photos de la construction de la ligne 8 à Opéra

Metro line 8 was further extended numerous times: eastward to Richelieu-Drouot station in 1928, and subsequently to Porte de Charenton station in 1931 with 17 new stations. In 1937, the segment towards Porte d’Auteuil station was reassigned to metro line 10, pushing metro line 8 to branch out southward from La Motte-Picquet–Grenelle station up to its terminus at Balard station.

The line was once again extended eastwards to Charenton – Écoles station in 1942, and then to Créteil station in 1974.
 

montage photos du prolongement de la ligne 8 à Balard, Charenton puis Créteil

Following the latest extension on 8 October 2011, MF 77 (Métro Fer appel d'offres de 1977, steel-tyred metro trains ordered in 1977) trains were able to run all the way to Créteil – Pointe-du-Lac station.

Terminus Créteil - Pointe du Lac sur la ligne 8 du métro

Another noteworthy fact about metro line 8 is that it is the only line in Paris to cross a river and its main tributary: under the Seine, between Concorde and Invalides stations, and over the Marne, between the aboveground stations Charenton – Écoles and École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort. Despite not having any branches, metro line 8 is in a tie with metro line 7 as the line with the most stations (38).

Key figures

23,274
km
That is the length of metro line 8, making it the second-longest line on the network, just after metro line 13, which stretches over 23.29 km!

Arrival of new trains on metro line 8

By 2029, metro line 8 is set to receive new MF 19 (Métro Fer appel d'offres de 2019, steel-tyred metro trains ordered in 2019) trains. On behalf of Île-de-France Mobilités, RATP will proceed to replace the trains currently running on metro lines 3, 3bis, 7, 7bis, 8, 10, 12 and 13 with the new MF 19 models, which will operate on these eight metro lines.

The goal is to improve travel conditions for passengers with safer and more comfortable trains, in addition to on-board information services. To accommodate these new trains and implement such services, the metro network infrastructure must be adapted to allow upgraded and more efficient systems to be deployed. Traffic frequency and reliability will be increased on every line.
 

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Ligne 8 Heritage