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Revision as of 17:12, 2 December 2005
Template:Infobox Paris Network
Saint-Germain-en-Laye (A1), Cergy Le Haut (A3) and Poissy (A5) to Boissy-Saint-Léger (A2) and Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy (A4)
- First inauguration : December 9, 1977
- Length : 108.5 km (67.4 miles)
- Number of stops : 46
- Traffic (2004) : 272,800,000 journeys per annum (on the RATP section)
Line A is formed from the connection across Paris of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye-Nanterre line in the west to the Vincennes - Marne-la-Vallée line in the east. In the 1990s a new eastern section was built extending the line to Disneyland Resort Paris.
Popular success and responses
Line A has been a runaway success since its inauguration and, with its million-plus passengers per workday, has frequently been presented as the busiest urban transit line in the world. This claim has been disputed (Gerondeau C, 2003 — see reference) by reference to the figure of 103,080 passengers per hour claimed by the Japanese Ministry of Transport for the JR Chuo Line in Tokyo — almost twice the equivalent figure (55,000) for the RER Line A (both 1992). Japan being something of a case apart in the field of rail transport, accounting for 40% of all train journeys in the world, it clearly remains the case that the RER Line A is an exceptionally busy route.
Ever-increasing traffic volume and the need to ward off imminent saturation have been major factors in RATP and SNCF's planning since the inauguration of the Line A. At least five major capital investment decisions can be directly traced back to this issue:
- In the early 1980s RATP contracted German conglomerate Siemens to develop a dynamic traffic control system that would remove the capacity constraints caused by conventional block traffic management. This system, called SACEM (Système Automatique de Contrôle, d'Entretien et de Maintenance), remains today one of the world's most advanced traffic control systems and enables extremely short spacing (well under 90 seconds) between trains during rush hour. (Parisians have become used to the somewhat surreal sight of a train pulling into a station as the one before it is just clearing the platform!)
- Around the same time, RATP had to order a significant number of additional MI79/MI84 trains to remedy premature wear and tear on its existing MS61 rolling stock caused by over-utilization of Line A.
- Later in the 1980s, the need to relieve congestion on the central segment of Line A was a key factor in selecting the route of the new, fully automated Line 14 (also known as METEOR) of the Métro.
- The same need governed the choice of the route of RER Line E in the early 1990s and is a factor in current plans for that line's westward or south-westward extension.
- An entirely new class of double-decker trains (MI2N series) entered service in 1998, in part a product of RATP's belief that no further infrastructure improvement (short of an extremely expensive track quadrupling) would relieve congestion on Line A.
One simple (if partial) solution to the congestion problem that has never been implemented is a change in the seating configuration inside the trains themselves. The RER is unusual among high-capacity urban train networks in its attachment to "transversal" (front and back facing) seating. A change to "longitudinal" (sideways window-lining) seating typically reduces the number of seats by 10% but increases standing room by 30%. The result is increased capacity and a less cramped ride for those without seats.