Paris orbital tramway extended

5 April saw the start of passenger service on the 3.2km extension of Paris tram line T3b from Porte d'Asnières to Porte Dauphine. 

 

Line T3 is the central orbital line with the first section opening in 2006 along the Boulevards des Maréchaux; after further extension in 2012 it has operated in two sections, T3a in the south and T3b in the north, meeting at Porte de Vincennes. 50M passengers/year are recorded in total for both lines. The rolling stock used was 63 Alstom Citadis 402 100% low-floor 43.7m seven-section double-ended trams and 50 new tram drivers have been recruited and trained. 

 

The new extension in the north-west of the city centre has taken five years to build with seven new tram stops, including the Palais des Congrès convention centre and interchange with RER Line C at Porte Maillot. 6.4km of cycle lanes have been built, 14 000m2 of grass laid and 960 trees have been planted as part of the project. 74 000 more passengers/day are expected. 

 

Colas rail and Colas France were awarded the infrastructure contracts totalling EUR 33M in September 2021. Alstom has supplied nine more Ctadis 402 (364-372) at a cost of EUR 36M that have been run-in on the existing line; they have a slightly modified front-end design from the first 63 trams of this type. They permit a four-minute headway at peak periods; service is provided 05.00-00.30 (01.30 on Fridays and Saturdays). The new tramway is part of the investment in the network to transport thousands of visitors during the Olympic Games this summer. 

 

RER line E from Haussmann-St-Lazare to Nanterre La Folie (via another interchange with the T3b) opened on 6 May and the important extensions of Métro line 14 from Mairie de St-Ouen to St-Denis-Pleyel and Olympiades to Aéroport d’Orly will follow on 20 June. There is no date yet for the 5.4 extension of line 11 from Marie de Lilkas to Rosny Bios-Perrier.