Thursday 3 January - Travelling Around Paris

SNCF  have done a lot of work to improve crowd flows at the Gare du Nord
- but you ain't seen nuffin' yet

Today I did some train and tram riding using a mobilis ticket. I started at the Gare du Nord, the busiest station in France. The concourse has now been opened up and it is easy to walk around.  It seems there are plans to separate the arriving passengers from the departing passengers by building a deck over the platforms for departures. When this is done the view above, which was painted by Monet, will be lost. 

There are still a number of trains using the older nez cassee locomotives, some in push pull mode.

I then took RER line D to the Gare de Lyon. This was a short journey in a crowded double decker train.  Good job the trains run at close intervals.

As usual, the Gare de Lyon was awash in TGVs but there was a Thello train from Italy hidden away in one corner.

This is a three voltage locomotive. The train has just arrived and the crew are going off duty. The man in the safety vest is doing a brake test prior to the train being moved to the servicing depot.

I then walked across the river to Austerlitz and was amazed at the transformation. Many trains now leave from the new section which is very poorly lit. The original section with the overall roof is now completely filled up with scaffolding with spaces for the trains. The station staff are still zooming around on Segways suitable fitted out with baskets for air brake hoses etc.

Austerlitz

A bi-current Sybic at Austerlitz.

I then took a roundabout route via the Place D'Italie and the tram T3a to the Porte de Charenton to see the maintenance sheds from the Passerelle de Valmy.

TGV side

Local train side

Passerelle de Valmy runs right across all tracks. The four track main line runs at the top.

Porte de Charenton

I then took the tram T3a to the Porte de Vincennes and after a short stop for a cafe and a pee I took tram T3b all the way around to the Porte D'Asnieres which is just a 15 minute walk from the apartment. As usual the tram was full and standing even though the frequency was about every 8 minutes. At one point the tram was so crowded that people couldn't get to the ticket machines to validate their tickets so they were passing tickets over their heads to validate them and return them.

This tram was waiting to run into the departure platform at Porte de Vincennes (line T3a). It is seven sections but with only four motor trucks none of them articulated.