Paris is about to take a big step in its ambitious plans to extend subway lines further past the city limit and into greater integration with all regional transit. The step, opening a four-station extension of Line 14 to Mairie-Saint-Ouen.
While the new extension from Gare Saint-Lazare is expected to reduce traffic on Line 13, the busiest line in the system by 25% when it opens on December 17, it is only one part of an ambitious expansion plan that includes more Metro extensions out of the city, new tram connections, and an entire new Line 15 that will circle the city but not cross it, as well as improved airport connections.
Line 15 itself will be new, but the idea isn’t: Over a century ago Paris had a ring railroad, called the ‘Little Belt,’ or ‘Petite Ceinture‘ that followed approximately the same route. Some of its stations still exist, adapted to other uses.
For map fans: A team of young designers has taken the classic Metro map, with its colors intact, and re-imagined it based on circle shapes to include all the new and planned lines, landmarks and more, with fewer bends and, hopefully, easy reading. Here’s their new map…
