FRANCE: THE PARIS METRO WILL RECEIVE A NEW HIGH-TECH TRAIN, METEOR

Record ID: 217241

  • Title: FRANCE: THE PARIS METRO WILL RECEIVE A NEW HIGH-TECH TRAIN, METEOR
  • Date: 15th October 1998
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 14, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV FRANCOIS MITTERRAND NATIONAL LIBRARY IN PARIS 0.06 2. SV GIANT BOARD "CONSTRUCTION OF METEOR, A NEW METRO LINE" 0.08 3. SLV INTERIOR OF MADELEINE METRO STATION 0.16 4. SLV DOORS IN HIGH PLEXIGLASS WALLS CLOSING AT SAME TIME AS SUBWAY DOORS, METEOR DEPARTING 0.33 5. SLV INT
  • Embargoed: 30th October 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVADVHJ6GEYLU2H0GTIC02CX16BJ
  • Story Text: The Paris metro, one of the worlds oldest underground
    systems, leaps into the 21st century on Thursday with a new
    line sporting driverless trains and bright spacious stations.

    Meteor, a new high-tech train, will glide into service
    on Thursday (October 15) in an inaugural run for President
    Jacques Chirac.

    The completely automated system will whoosh along on
    rubber tyres at high speed between Madeleine, in the heart of
    Paris, and the new National Library on the eastern edge of the
    city.

    Future extensions will stretch the line across the capital
    from northwest to southeast, linking along the way railway
    stations Saint Lazare to the west and Gare de Lyon in the
    east.

    The luxurious trains will shuttle along at speeds of up to
    80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour, twice as fast as other
    metro lines, under the control of a computerised command
    centre and video cameras mounted all along the route.

    Although the new line needs no drivers, the RATP will
    staff it with a normal complement of 240 transport workers,
    many of whom will be available to help passengers.

    At each station, high plexiglass walls at the platform
    edge will prevent what the RATP refers to as serious personal
    accidents -- the 130 or so suicide cases each year when people
    throw themselves in front of oncoming trains.

    Doors in the walls, placed to match those on subway cars,
    will slide open only when the train stops.

    Some 40,000 commuters an hour are expected to travel on
    the new metro line.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register