To mark this exceptional anniversary, RATP unveiled a commemorative plaque in the presence of its Chairman and CEO, Jean Castex, on line 1 (the very first line in the network) at Porte Maillot station. This is a nod to history, as it was precisely here that the line was inaugurated on July 19, 1900, at 1 p.m.
A resounding success from the very first year
From the moment it opened, the metro revolutionised the lives of Parisians, enabling them to cross the capital from west to east in just 30 minutes. This was a remarkable achievement in a city already congested with traffic. It was an instant success, with 17 million passengers using it in its first year, establishing the metro as an essential mode of transportation in Paris. It was also declared a public utility by the law of 30 March 1898.
The metro enters the urban heritage
Beyond mobility, the metro is also transforming the urban landscape. With its undulating entrances and stylised lettering, architect Hector Guimard infused the network with Art Nouveau aesthetics. His creations, which have become symbols of the Paris metro, have left a lasting mark on the city's identity.
A titanic undertaking until 1939
Between 1900 and 1939, the construction of the Paris Metro progressed at a rapid pace. Line after line, the network expanded continuously, driven by ever-increasing traffic.
By 1939, most of the intra-muros network was complete. Largely dug at shallow depths, the Paris Metro required a variety of innovative construction techniques, including wooden galleries, open trenches, submerged caissons, and even ground freezing to enable digging under the Seine.
On the eve of the Second World War, the network already had more than 90 km in service.
In 1949, the RATP was created, succeeding the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris (CMP) and the Société des transports en commun de la région parisienne (STCRP). It spanned a network of 166 km, organised around 14 lines and 270 stations, covering all public transport, including underground and surface, in Paris and its suburbs.
Transport tickets: goodbye ticket punchers, hello Navigo
For decades, the cardboard ticket, punched by hand by ticket inspectors, symbolised access to the metro. With the advent of automation and the introduction of the Orange card in 1975, practices gradually evolved.
Today, the transition to fully digital tickets is accelerating: since April 2025, more than 140 stations have stopped selling paper tickets. Eventually, all tickets will be available on smartphones or Navigo cards, marking the gradual end of cardboard tickets in the Paris region's transport system.
A constantly expanding network
Inaugurated for the 1900 World's Fair, Line 1 was already part of an ambitious 65-kilometre network comprising nine lines. Since then, the Paris Metro has continued to expand. Today, the RATP operates 14 lines covering 226 kilometres and serving 309 stations in Paris and its inner suburbs. Every year, over 1.5 billion passengers utilise the system. Development continues as part of the Greater Paris project, with lines 4, 11, 12, and 14 having been extended in recent years. Plans to extend lines 1, 9, and 10 are also under consideration. At the same time, the Grand Paris Express, currently under construction, will eventually include four new metro lines (15, 16, 17 and 18) and dozens of kilometres of newly created network.
[Anniversaire 🎂] Aujourd’hui, 19 juillet 2025, le métro fête ses 125 ans 🥳
La #ligne1 ouvre en 1900 à l’occasion de l’exposition universelle ! On vous raconte quelques anecdotes 😉👇 #ratp pic.twitter.com/rQm6cT4d0o— Ligne 1 (@Ligne1_RATP) July 19, 2025
The history of the metro in a few key dates
- 1852: Birth of Fulgence Bienvenüe, French engineer, graduate of the École Polytechnique and the École des Ponts et Chaussées, who designed the first metropolitan railway project in 1895.
- October 4 1898: Work began on Line 1, under an agreement between the City of Paris and the Paris Metro Railway Company.
- July 19 1900: Line 1 was inaugurated between Porte Maillot and Porte de Vincennes.
- August 10 1903: A fire kills 84 people at Ménilmontant station. It remains the worst disaster to have ever occurred on the Paris network.
- 1910: The metro crosses the Seine to connect the two sections of line 4: Porte de Clignancourt-Châtelet and Porte d'Orléans-Raspail.
- 1934: For the first time, a metro line (line 9) leaves the city limits of Paris to serve Boulogne-Billancourt.
- 1944: The Germans shut down line 11 with plans to convert it into an underground arms factory.
- 1948: The law creating the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) and the Office Régional des Transports Parisiens (ORT) is enacted. The RATP was officially established on January 1 1949.
- 1956: Pneumatic trains first appear in service on line 11, then on line 1 in 1964, line 4 in 1967 and line 6 in 1974.
- 1983: The red and green trains, known as 'Sprague-Thomson' after their American inventors, ended their commercial service on April 16.
- 1991: First class, a Parisian exception, disappears from the metro. In the RER, it will not be until September 1999.
- 1998: Line 14, the first Paris metro line to be fully automated, is inaugurated.
- 2012: The oldest Parisian line (line 1) is fully automated.
- December 14 2020: Line 14 opens three new stations to the public: Mairie de Saint-Ouen, Saint-Ouen and Pont-Cardinet. The Porte de Clichy station will follow in January 2021.
- 2024: A few weeks before the Paris Games, line 14 is extended northwards to St Denis Pleyel and southwards to Orly Airport. The extension of Line 11 will enter service on June 13, 2024, connecting Mairie des Lilas station to the new terminus at Rosny–Bois–Perrier.
