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RER A

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Template:Infobox Paris Network

An MI 2N at Charles de Gaulle - Étoile. You can see the SIEL information system.
An MS 61 at Auber.
Lateral signal taken over by SACEM (X)
Inside an MI 84 during rush hour

The RER A is one of the five lines in the RER urban rail system serving the Île-de-France région, notably Paris and its agglomeration.

The line runs from 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 (figure only for the RATP section of the line)

Line A is Europe's busiest line with over 1,000,000 passenger/day. Line A is formed from the connection across Paris of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye-Nanterre line in the west to the Vincennes — Boissy-St-Léger line in the east. Two branches were added in the West, to Poissy and the 'ville nouvelle' of Cergy, and another in the East, to the ville nouvelle of Marne-la-Vallée. The two latest extensions of the line were to Cergy-Le Haut and Disneyland Resort Paris.

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 Chūō 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 d'aide à la conduite, à l'exploitation et à la maintenance), remains today one of the world's most advanced traffic control systems and enables extremely short spacing (under 90 seconds in stations, under 2 minutes in tunnels) between trains during rush hour. (Parisians have become used to the 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 (MI 2N 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.

Chronology

Map

Geographically accurate path of the RER A


List of RER A stations

Operation

Branches

Line A provides two groups of services:

  • St Germain branch — common trunk line — Boissy branch
  • Cergy or Poissy branches — common trunk line — Marne la Vallée branch.

During off-peak hours, the Cergy-Torcy and Poissy-Chessy services operate every 20 minutes, and the St-Germain - Boissy-St-Leger service operates every 10 minutes.

Operations are very complex during peak periods, with an average of one train every 2 minutes on the common trunk line in the busier direction (east to west in the morning, west to east in the evening), and one train every 2 min 30 sec in the other direction. The Marne la Vallée branch has the most intensive service.

Names of Services

RER trains do not display the name of the destination station, but instead display a "nom de mission" or "name of service." These are, literally, names used to designate (and distinguish) individual services ("runs"), and are accompanied by a two-digit number.

The first letter corresponds to the destination station (gare d'arrivée):

(The letter "W" is used to represent the two letters "v" in vide voyageurs, "empty of passengers.)

The second letter corresponds to the stations served. The letter "E" indicates a train calling at all stations (omnibus, only on the route Saint-Germain-in-Laye - Boissy-St-Léger).

The third and fourth letters are used to form a pronounceable name. These letters are changed when the service number (from 01 to 99 eastward, from 02 to 98 westward) reaches the maximum. Therefore, two services with the first two letters identical serve the same station, e.g. ZEUS and ZEMA (local trains with destination Saint-Germain-en-Laye, or NELY, NEGE and NEMO (local trains with destination Boissy-Saint-Léger. The letters ZZ generally indicate that the established service pattern was changed for an unspecified reason, generally a technical problem which disrupted operations.

Morning Peak Periods

Each of these services operates every 10 minutes:

  • Boissy - Le Vésinet-Le Pecq, all stations except Nanterre-Ville.
  • La Varenne - St-Germain, all stations except Chatou-Croissy and Le Vésinet-Centre.
  • Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy - Cergy-le-Haut, all stations except Lognes, Noisiel, Bry-sur-Marne, Houilles and Maisons-Laffitte.
  • Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy - Poissy, all stations except Val d'Europe, Bussy-St-Georges, Lognes, Noisy-Champs and Sartrouville.
  • Torcy - Rueil-Malmaison, all stops except Bry, Neuilly-Plaisance and Nanterre-Préfecture.
  • Cergy - Torcy, all stops except Maisons-Laffitte, Houilles, Noisiel and Lognes.
  • Poissy - Chessy, all stops except Neuilly-Plaisance and Bry.
  • St-Germain - Boissy, all stops except Le Vésinet-Centre and Chatou-Croissy.
  • Le Vésinet-Le Pecq - La Varenne, all stops except Nanterre-Préfecture, Vincennes and Fontenay.

Evening Peak Periods

Each of these services operates every 10 minutes:

  • Cergy - Noisy-le-Grand, all stops except Maisons-Laffitte and Houilles.
  • Poissy - Chessy, all stops except Sartrouville, Bry, Noisiel and Lognes.
  • St-Germain - Boissy, all stops except Nanterre-Ville and Nanterre-Préfecture.
  • Le Vésinet-Le Pecq - La Varenne, all stops except Vésinet-Centre and Chatou-Croissy.
  • La Défense - Torcy, all stops except Neuilly-Plaisance and Bry.
  • Chessy - Poissy, all stops except Bry and Neuilly-Plaisance.
  • Boissy - Le Vésinet-Le Pecq, all stops.
  • Noisy - Cergy-le-Haut, all stops except Houilles and Maisons-Laffitte.
  • La Varenne - St-Germain, all stops except Fontenay, Vincennes, Nanterre-Préfecture, Chatou-Croissy and Le Vésinet-Centre.

Off-Peak Hours

Each of these services operates every 20 minutes:

  • Cergy-le-Haut - Chessy.
  • Poissy - Torcy.

This service operates every 10 minutes:

  • St-Germain - Boissy-St-Léger.

See also

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