There are a lot of things you don’t know about the Paris metro. And as we find it super interesting, we continue with new fun facts, found by @ElyssFr, a person who tweets happily well. Now when you go to take the metro you will be more cultured.
1.
In tribute to those who go back to work, and therefore the metro today, or to the tourists who disembark, I’m making you a little fun/random facts thread on the Paris Metro to enchant your travels. Because he fascinates me.
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
3.
Except on line 9, all the trains are in fact automatic and the conductors only close and open the doors. They are still asked to eat “for real” at least once a day to keep some as usual. Lines 1 and 14 are alone without conductors. pic.twitter.com/lUSqF8oNPl
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
4.
The Danube station (in particular) is perched in the old gypsum galleries of the Chaumont hills. It is suspended on 30m concrete pillars which sink into the impassable abyssal mazes. If you pierce the platform, you have a Gandalf-like fall. pic.twitter.com/rdSoikhUdv
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
5.
But the deepest station is Abbesses, which is 36m below ground. You only have to try the stairs once to understand why so many people are waiting for the elevator. pic.twitter.com/7eXNbf3zXk
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
6.
Châtelet – Les Halles is the largest metro station in the world. If the pillars and the displays make you weave and get lost, that’s on purpose: it’s to break up the large movements of the crowd from one access to the other. pic.twitter.com/Qew5sZRrGE
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
7.
The current line 6 cars date from 1967 and were the first to have tires to make less noise. The system has not been generalized to all lines. Line 6 will gradually recover the wagons of line 4 during the modernization of the latter. pic.twitter.com/q2J7pUFNzW
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
8.
It was common to get insulted by the puncher and other passengers if you handed your ticket the wrong way or dropped it at the platform entrance, delaying everyone. The tradition continues with those who stay left on the escalators. pic.twitter.com/2GPhpfGs4O
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
9.
The metro ticket has changed its look many times, and it is planned to “delete” it, but it has been 117 years since it was put into circulation that it has exactly the same dimensions: 60×30 mm.
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
10.
There are quite a few ghost stations: closed, never open or even never accessible. Like Haxo, a station between 3bis and 7bis whose access to the surface has never been drilled because it was canceled before it was put into service. pic.twitter.com/9hjB8JSYxd
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
11.
If you see a scene in the Paris metro, in a film, it was surely shot at “Porte des Lilas Cinéma” which since its closure has only been used for that. We shot Amélie Poulain there. pic.twitter.com/H7yDd5aPZK
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
12.
“Rue d’ Allemagne” and “Berlin” became “Jaurès” and “Liège” in 1914 after the assassination of Jaurès in 1914 and the outbreak of the First World War.
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
13.
To build Line 1, we gutted the entire rue de Rivoli for an “open heart” construction and suspending all traffic during the works. And then you complain about the closing of the docks… pic.twitter.com/6CXUh2J5uB
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
14.
Line 4 was the first to pass under the Seine and it was very annoying to do. We built watertight and pressurized caissons that we sunk to the bottom of the Seine and under which we dug to put them in place and assemble them. pic.twitter.com/2H9kPNc5B7
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
15.
Line 9 is the longest to travel from terminus to terminus (2h), line 8 the longest in kilometers (23km), and although many think it is Châtelet (2nd), it is in fact Gare du North the busiest station daily.
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
16.
Line 13 is the longest (24km) if you count its fork and serves 9 different towns including Paris. Lines 7 and 8 are tied for the line with the most stations: 38.
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
17.
In 2012 a motorist confused the entrance to the Chaussée d’Antin – La Fayette station with a car park entrance and started going down the stairs with his car. He did not receive a ticket because technically he had not committed an infraction. pic.twitter.com/LTqZsMmzh7
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
18.
Closed and condemned stations:
– Arsenal (line 5 between Quai de la Rapée and Bastille))
– Red Cross (10, between Sèvres-Babylone and Mabillon)
– Saint Martin (between Strasbourg-Saint-Denis and République)
– Champ de Mars (8, between La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle and Ecole Militaire) pic.twitter.com/1I3eurBjaH— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
20.
The “RATP rabbit” who gets pinched very hard on the metro doors is called Serge and he has been the RATP mascot for 31 years. He changed his look several times, the last time was in 2014. pic.twitter.com/buL5rISaFq
— Elyss (@ElyssFr) August 20, 2018
Now even by cheating on the metro, you will remain a cultured person.
