Railroad Forums 

  • Wild abandoned railway in Paris.

  • Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.
Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.

Moderators: Komachi, David Benton

 #1510350  by David Benton
 
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-24 ... e-of-paris" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"The wild abandoned railway in the centre of Paris
Long before the Metro, the steam trains of Petite Ceinture ("Little Belt" in English) connected Paris's main railway stations carrying people around the city along the path of its ancient walls. The circular line went into gradual decline from the 1930s, when competition arrived in the form of the more modern underground Metro system."
 #1510430  by george matthews
 
The problem seems to be that there is no easy way to make this route part of the Metro system, and there is no need for another route to take full sized trains between routes. Making it a linear park is probably the best way of using the space.
 #1510571  by kato
 
george matthews wrote:The problem seems to be that there is no easy way to make this route part of the Metro system, and there is no need for another route to take full sized trains between routes.
Using the right-of-way of the Petite Ceinture was considered when Tram line T3a/b was built - which basically covers about 240 degrees of the 360-degree circle around Paris. They opted instead for running it about 100m away in parallel through the Boulevards de Marechaux on the surface to better serve customers. The tram from 2006 onwards basically replaced the bus service that had replaced the Petite Ceinture in 1934.

The arc that isn't covered by this tram is the western section of the Petite Ceinture between Clichy and Auteuil which was converted to be used by the RER C.

As for making it a linear park, some sections - in the south - already are part of parks. For the eastern section through Bel-Air and St Blaise it might make sense to at least convert it into bicycle paths to connect metro stations or something like that.
 #1510586  by kato
 
The Petite Ceinture was also pretty "far in" with only 5 km diameter of the circle - and Paris has long outgrown it.

The new inner ring line (or "orbital line") currently being built - Metro Line 15 - has twice that diameter for the circle covered within, running at the current outer edge of "downtown Paris". 30 of its 34 stations will connect to radial lines for transfers in- and outwards...