A pipe break at Châtelet-Les Halles station damaged a technical signaling room on Thursday, leading to an interruption of traffic on the RER A, B and D lines and creating an embolism in public transport in the heart of Paris.
For several hours, crossing Paris was made impossible due to this incident which occurred at 12:15 p.m. for these three RER lines.
Traffic was restored at the start of the evening, but traffic remained “very disrupted” in order to cope with the flow of travelers using them daily, 1.4 million passengers for line A, nearly a million for line B and 660,000 for the RER D.
On line B, interconnection was no longer possible at Gare du Nord – which means that travelers must change RER at this station, with the RATP indicating on its website “delays and cancellations of trains to be expected”. Traffic was expected to remain “disrupted all evening” on this line as well as on the RER D, according to SNCF Transilien.
“Exceptional attendance”
At the crossroads of lines at Châtelet-Les Halles, the largest underground station in Europe, travelers pass each other around 7:30 p.m. in all directions but in calm, trying to find plans B on their smartphones, noted a journalist from the AFP.
In order to cope with the additional passenger load, lines 1, 4 and 14 of the metro were reinforced, with the consequence of an “exceptional crowd” on line 4, forced to absorb RER B travelers seeking to reach the Gare du Nord from Châtelet.
Passengers coming from RER lines A, B or D run in the corridors to finally find themselves on the congested metro platforms, according to the AFP journalist.
Irina, a 24-year-old student who did not want to give her name, is trying to reach Villeneuve-la-Garenne (Hauts-de-Seine), via line 4 and a tram. “But given what’s happening, we’re not going to make it,” she said, pointing to the crowded staircase where the police are trying to control traffic.
In addition to line 4, three other metro lines were disrupted and another was stopped in the early evening due to breakdowns or passenger discomfort, according to the RATP website.
” Gold medal “
On social networks, users evoke scenes of “chaos” while others joke about the capacity of the French capital to absorb the flow of travelers expected during the Olympic Games. “At the Olympics, in the public transport test, I think we are on track for the gold medal,” quipped @Casaisan on X (ex-Twitter).
Seven months before the start of the Olympic Games, this breakdown could reignite the controversy, after the exit at the end of November of the mayor (PS) of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, on “transport not ready”, attracting the wrath of the ‘executive.
“We have an outdated network. There are at least eight out of ten lines that are no longer able to provide quality public service. We are paying for forty years of underinvestment in transport before those decided by Valérie Pécresse”, the president of the Ile-de-France region and Ile-de-France Mobilités, said the CEO of the RATP on Wednesday in Les Echos, former Prime Minister Jean Castex.
“We are paying for years of underfunding our transport,” lamented Paris City Hall mobility assistant David Belliard (EELV), calling for “a massive and emergency plan for our public transport”.