Merger of Paris Métro Lines 3bis and 7bis

Merger of Paris Métro Lines 3bis and 7bis
Legend
Château-Landon Magenta Louis Blanc Jaurès Bolivar Buttes Chaumont Botzaris Danube Place des Fêtes Pré Saint-Gervais Haxo 1 2 1: Voie des Fêtes (Holidays Track) │ 2: Voie navette (Shuttle Track) sidings Porte des Lilas–Cinéma Saint-Fargeau Pelleport Gambetta
This diagram: view talk

The merger of Paris Métro Line 3bis and Line 7bis is projected to create a new line of the Paris Métro, from Château-Landon station to Gambetta station.^[1] This new line, which would likely be named Line 19 as Line 18 is scheduled to be opened in 2027, would extend westward beyond Line 7bis's current terminus at Louis Blanc.

History of lines 3bis and 7bis[]

• 18 January 1911: a new segment Louis Blanc – Pré Saint-Gervais was opened and extended Line 7 as its northern branch.
• 27 November 1921: a new segment Gambetta – Porte des Lilas extended Line 3.
• 1921–1939 and 1952–1956: two rail tunnels were temporarily opened to extend Line 7 to Porte des Lilas (via the Voie navette and Voie des Fêtes)^[2] between Porte des Lilas and Pré Saint-Gervais; however in the end the Voie des Fêtes was never used and the station called Haxo was never opened to the public (and is thus one of the famous "ghost stations" of the Paris Métro). The Voie navette was also closed to passenger traffic and the southern branch of Line 7 (later named 7bis) currently terminates in an anticlockwise loop to Pré Saint-Gervais instead of Porte des Lilas.
• 3 December 1967: due to the very unbalanced traffic between the two branches of Line 7, the southern branch Louis Blanc – Pré Saint-Gervais was isolated and became an independent line, Line 7bis.
• 2 April 1971: when Line 3 was extended eastward to Gallieni, its previous final segment to the north, Gambetta – Porte des Lilas, was isolated and serviced by a short shuttle, Line 3bis.

Projected new line[]

It would result from the merger of:

• Line 3bis which currently links Gambetta station (where it branches from Line 3) to Porte des Lilas station, on the south-eastern (south to north) part of the new line;
• Line 7bis which currently performs an anticlockwise loop on its eastern end from Botzaris station to its terminus at Pré Saint-Gervais station, via Place des Fêtes station (but avoiding the closed station called Haxo); it would link them to the current western terminus at Louis Blanc station, on the northwestern (east to west) part of the new line.

These two lines would be connected through an existing rail tunnel, the Voie navette^[2] (currently used only for very limited technical servicing), between Porte des Lilas station and Pré Saint-Gervais station, to which it would be connected from the Place des Fêtes station by a short rail tunnel, the Voie des Fêtes^[2] (currently used and blocked by maintenance facilities), possibly by finally opening to the public the ghost station Haxo (but only in one direction), whose surface accesses would first need to be built. This would also mean reopening to traffic the secondary station Porte des Lilas – Cinéma and close the current platforms at Line 3bis's Porte des Lilas.^[3]

Detailed map of ways on Line 7bis (around Pré Saint-Gervais station and the ghost station Haxo), Line 3bis and Line 11 (around Porte des Lilas station)

Line 7bis would be also extended one station to the west, to have its terminus at Château-Landon (for easing its interconnection with RER E at Magenta station, which would allow access to the Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord via existing pedestrian links). Therefore, Louis Blanc station would no longer be the western terminus of the line; however, it would require the creation of a new tunnel and extensive works: this extension could therefore be finalised after the opening of the new line. For now, this last segment is used by the existing Line 7 connection.

It was originally speculated that the new line would be given the designation of Line 15. However, since a revision of the Grand Paris Express plans in which the Red Line became Line 15, the merged line would likely be given the designation of Line 19.

• 

  Stations on the projected new line

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  Part of Paris Métro map with lines 3bis and 7bis merged into a new line

See also[]

• Haxo (Paris Métro) – never-used station on the proposed line

References[]

External links[]

• (in French) Final project of the Schéma directeur de la région Île-de-France (SDRIF), adopted by the regional council of Île-de-France on 25 September 2008, p. 81 (paper version) left column, and p. 138 (paper version) right column. Last viewed on 3 October 2009 (p. 83 and p. 140 on the PDF version).