Europe’s busiest rail station, the Gare du Nord in Paris, is set for a major rebuilding project that will expand its capacity and update its appearance and amenities. The nearly €1 billion-plus project is proposed to be finished by 2023; Paris is bidding to host the 2024 Olympics and a Universal Exposition in 2025.
In recent years critics have described the station as “squalid” or outmoded and compared it unfavorably with London’s rebuilt and upgraded St. Pancras, which is the other end of the Eurostar service. Gare du Nord is also a major terminal for TGV service in northern France as well as a huge commuter and local transit hub.
The first phase of the work, to be done in 2017-18, involves rearranging interior spaces to improve traffic flow and provide more retail and waiting space, as well as improved connections among the railroads, Metro and RER stations. A number of new concourses will be built.
The next phase, to be completed by 2023 includes removing traffic from the streets facing the main entrance of the building and enclosing that space behind a new mostly-glass facade, shown above. It is not entirely clear how the existing facade, below, will be integrated behind that space.
Photo: Serguei Trouchelle/Wikimedia
In addition to the work being done directly on Gare du Nord, there will be improvements in passenger connections between it and Gare de l’Est, just east of it, and the Magenta RER station that lies between them.
