Are the Paris 2024 Olympics in danger of being blocked by the metro? An incident on line 4 of the Paris metro on Wednesday evening, on which the RATP has yet to explain itself in detail, has revived concerns about the Ile-de-France transport network a year before the start of the events.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded in overcrowded and overheated trains on line 4 for two long hours, an incident described as “completely exceptional” by the RATP, which launched an internal investigation.
“Exceptional conditions that almost never happen”
“We got stuck in unbearable heat,” said Oussama El Cherif, 19, who wanted to reach the Odéon station in the heart of the capital. After a long wait between two stations, he resolved, like several other passengers, to “walk along the rails” to get out.
Five “very full” automatic trains were blocked in the tunnel of line 4 from 7:25 p.m., “exceptional conditions which almost never happen”, declared to the press Agnès Ogier, director of rail services at RATP. .
At the same time, the entire metro line 13 was blocked between 8:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. due to a computer failure. Passengers were dropped off at the station and asked to change their route. A broken down train in Seine-Saint-Denis also disrupted traffic on lines B and D of the RER.
Still many points to settle
These cascading incidents sound the alarm within 400 days of the Olympics, where more than ten million spectators are expected.
The transport offer will be “ready” for the Games, assured Tuesday the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune. The extension of line 14, which will connect Orly airport to the Saint-Denis-Pleyel station, near the Stade de France, should in particular be ready in the spring of 2024.
But there are still a few points to settle in the transport plan, around Roland-Garros and the Stade de France. Additional shuttles could be set up during these crucial weeks so as not to overload line 9.
Jean Castex calls for an investigation
According to Agnès Ogier, this “completely exceptional incident” occurred “in the middle of rush hour” in “especially difficult” conditions for passengers when it “was extremely hot”.
Paris firefighters sent six emergency vehicles to the Montparnasse, Saint-Germain-des-Près and Saint-Placide stations to facilitate the evacuation. They did not report any injuries, they said Thursday.
The CEO of RATP, former Prime Minister Jean Castex, has requested an internal investigation which will aim to “understand the elements that generated the incident, analyze the way it was handled” as well as “the deadlines” of intervention so that “such an incident does not happen again”, continued the director of rail services for the board.
Less than half of the trains equipped with refrigerated ventilation
The incident followed a “damage on a train” around 6:20 p.m. The blockage of the trains (or shuttles in the jargon of the RATP) in the tunnel forced “travellers to wait” inside “before they can be evacuated”, according to the RATP. The board said it could release further details about the incident Thursday afternoon.
In the summer of 2018, a breakdown on line 1, also automated, had already blocked thousands of passengers in overheated trains for long minutes. The evacuation instructions had since been revised.
With the Olympics taking place in early August, the heat will be there: less than half of the metros are equipped with refrigerated ventilation (lines 1, 2, 5, 9, the new trains 4 and 11, and part from those of line 14). The renewal of the trains of the other lines is planned by 2035, according to Ile-de-France Mobilités.
In the meantime, the oldest metros have “natural ventilation”, thanks to openings in the roof which allow air to circulate.