| Grande Ceinture line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 A train travels on the line nearSucy-en-Brie | |||
| Overview | |||
| Native name | Ligne de Grande Ceinture | ||
| Owner | SNCF | ||
| Locale | Île-de-France | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Heavy rail | ||
| Route number | 990 000 | ||
| History | |||
| Commenced | 1875 | ||
| Opened | 1877 | ||
| Completed | 1886 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 157 km (98 mi) | ||
| Number of tracks | 2 | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge | ||
| Electrification |
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TheGrande Ceinture line (French:Ligne de Grande Ceinture, English:Big Belt Line) is arailway line aroundParis, located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from theBoulevard Périphérique. The decision to build it was taken at the end of the 19th century, to connect the radial lines linking the capital to the provinces and provide relief to the busyPetite Ceinture Line (English:Small Belt Line).
The Grande Ceinture is now entirely dedicated to freight traffic in its northern and eastern section betweenSartrouville andVilleneuve-Saint-Georges, linking up the western (Normandy), northern (Picardie,Benelux, Great Britain), east (Lorraine,Alsace, Germany) and south-eastern and south-western routes and their extensions into Italy, Switzerland and Spain, and the connections between the different factories ofÎle-de-France. It linked up themarshalling yards of Achères, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and Bourget until the closure of the first two of these in 2005–2006. Intense traffic (more than 200 trains a day) on certain sections, notably inSeine-Saint-Denis, are at saturation level.
To the west, a short section, betweenSartrouville andAchères, is used in common with the Paris-Rouen line, and with one of the branches ofRER A.
The southern section, betweenVersailles-Chantiers andJuvisy is also used by suburban trains (RER C) andTGV services (Le Havre-Rouen-Lyon-Marseille link).
Only theAchères-Versailles section is out of use; it was partially reopened to passenger traffic on 12 December 2004 on theSaint-Germain-en-Laye-Noisy-le-Roi section (projetGCO). Further development has seen the section from St Cyr L'École to Saint Germain reopen with a tram-train service starting in 2022. Phase 2 of this project will see the extension of the tram-train to Achères.
Decided upon in 1875, the Grande Ceinture opened in 1877 betweenNoisy-le-Sec andVilleneuve-Saint-Georges. On 16 July, a passenger service was put in place betweengare de l'Est andgare d'Austerlitz.
In 1882, the section betweenNoisy-le-Sec,Le Bourget andAchères was inaugurated. A station was built atSaint-Germain-en-Laye.
In 1883, the section betweenJuvisy andVersailles was opened, then in 1886 that betweenVilleneuve-Saint-Georges andMassy-Palaiseau. This last section was demanded by the army.
In 1939, most of the Grande Ceinture closed to passenger traffic, which was left with only theVersailles -Massy-Palaiseau -Juvisy-sur-Orge section. The line thus became principally mercantile in traffic.
Passenger traffic betweenOrly andPont-de-Rungis reopened in 1969, then that betweenPont-de-Rungis andMassy-Palaiseau in 1977. On 30 September 1979, this latter section was integrated intoRER C.
Between 2005 and the end of 2006 the marshalling yards of Achères and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges closed; the Grande Ceinture thus no longer links the marshalling yard at Le Bourget to the radial lines.
In 1924 it was decided to create the "Grande Ceinture complémentaire" between Noisy-le-Sec andSucy-Bonneuil. This line opened in 1928 for freight and in 1932 for passenger traffic. The section between Bobigny and Sucy-Bonneuil was built later.
The Grande Ceinture's role always erred towards freight rather than passenger transportation. As one can see on the timetables in May 1914, the number of passenger trains of travelers was limited, as was their speed. Running through areas that were then under-urbanised and not linking into the necessary suburban rail-routes, it is thus unsurprising that the Grande Ceinture's passenger service proved unable to withstand the increasing use of cars, buses and other modes of transport.
The desire to introduce large freight trains onto the Grande Ceinture gave rise to the project toelectrify its southern section with a continuous current of 1500 Volts. At the end of January 1945, the decision was taken to electrify the Valenton-Juvisy (via Orly) section, and electric services on this section were running as early as September of the same year. In its wake, the Juvisy-Versailles and Orly-Massy sections were also electrified, with electric trains going into service on them on February 6, 1947.
The radial lines at the exit togare du Nord andgare de l'Est were electrified, runningsingle-phase 25 kV 50 Hz at the end of the 1950s. In this era, electrifying the Grande Ceinture's eastern section became necessary so that freight trains could run along the Ceinture without a break. To this end, the junction section from Stains (Paris-Creil line) to Noisy-le-Sec was switched on as an electric line on 21 July 1959. The Argenteuil-Stains and Bobigny-Gagny sections on the "Complémentaire" were, in their turn, electrified with 25 kV on 14 September 1970.
From the winter service in 1984 onwards, a new direct TGV link fromLille toLyon was proposed using the Grande Ceinture Est routes from the junction at Stains to Valenton. Traffic then runs through Noisy-le-Sec but certain trains also loan the "Complémentaire" if there are engineering works or other disruptions. The success of this new scheme led SNCF to offer a second daily round-trip ticket as early as 1985. Until 1986, trains were coupled at Valenton with a new direct Rouen-Lyon service, using the Grande Ceinture Sud, from Versailles-Chantiers to Valenton through Massy-Palaiseau. The TGV Lille-Lyon no longer uses the Grande Ceinture since the opening of theLGV Interconnexion Est in 1994.
There are plans to build a TGV link betweenNormandy andl'aéroport de Roissy, using theLGV Normandie, the Grande Ceinture Nord untilStains, or a new interchange station onto theLGV Nord. This project appeared in the preliminaries of theSDRIF of November 2006.
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