• Symbol of an urban utopia of the 80s, the SK metro, a sort of underground cable car inaugurated in 1993, was never really used before being abandoned to graffiti artists and urban explorers.

  • Owner of the line of about 500 meters, the town hall of Noisy-le-Grand wants to renovate it to make it a third place "connected for the south of the 93", in the words of mayor Brigitte Marsigny.

  • This renovation project is part of the more global rehabilitation of the Mont d'Est district.

Ghost subway stations make you dream, so imagine a ghost subway!

This is what is hidden in the basements of Noisy-le-Grand, in Seine-Saint-Denis.

The SK metro, named after its builder (Soulé) and its inventor (Yann de Kermadec) is a very French utopia.

The idea is ingenious, it is a question of taking up the principle of the cable car but underground, namely cabins towed by cables.

This system was to make it possible to cover the last kilometer between the RER A station and the Maille Horizon district, a journey of 518 meters.

The project was part of the construction, in the 1980s, of the new town of Noisy-le-Grand and the development of the Mont d'Est district with the famous Abraxas spaces by Ricardo Bofill.

At the time, we see big, surely too big.

Heir to this vision, the SK metro was ready for use in 1993, but the problem was that it led nowhere since the Maille Horizon district had not come out of the ground.

For no reason, the metro, which was still supposed to transport 1,800 passengers an hour, is useless even before it was inaugurated.

Until 1999, it ran idle from time to time for maintenance.

Afterwards, it's the final closure, abandonment, Urbex and graffiti.

“A waste of this station which has never been used”, comments the mayor (LR) of Noisy-le-Grand, Brigitte Marsigny.

Pink granite and cathedral

And it is to repair this mess that the municipality decided to renovate this 2,500 m² space renamed Station K. “When I visited the place for the first time, in 2016, it was love at first sight.

It was fabulous, something had to be done with it, ”explains the city councilor.

You access the station by an (almost) hidden door, under the slab of the esplanade of the Paris Commune, near one of the exits of the RER A. You then come to the station hall with toilets and the same machine to distribute the tickets, all dimly lit by the spotlights of the municipal services.

The floor and walls are covered in pink granite that the city hopes to reuse during the renovation.

A staircase descends to the boarding platform where a cabin covered in graffiti lies, while the tunnel sinks into darkness.

A little further on, the control room and the storage space where eight transport capsules are lined up two by two.

Finally, a last space, nicknamed “the cathedral” with nearly 10 meters high ceilings where the premises for the SK metro staff were planned.

"The objective is to transform the station into a third place with a bar-restaurant part, a sports area with climbing or yoga, and a kind of art gallery", describes Laurent Foret, director of Socaren, the company planning authority in charge of renovating the site.

"Reuse the place with the spirit of the place"

The call for projects will be launched on April 8 for delivery expected before 2026. The idea is to have a single operator for the place bringing together these various activities.

But above all, the project leader must "rely on the memory of the place", indicates Laurent Foret, for whom it is necessary to "reuse the place with the spirit of the place".

Because, in fact, “when you visit this station, it generates a fairly strong imagination”.

"It will become the trendy place for the south of 93", promises Brigitte Marsigny.

But before that, the operator will have to pay 1.750 million euros to acquire the serviced walls from the town hall of Noisy-le-Grand.

For the latter, this project is part of a much larger project to renovate the esplanade of the Paris Commune, also supported by Socaren.

“We want to transform this monofunctional district by developing shops and restaurants there,” explains Laurent Foret.

It is also planned to "reinject plants into this completely concrete district" as has already been done around the two aquatic areas, which are highly demineralised.

Station K will therefore be both the symbol and the spearhead of the renovation of an entire district.

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  • Paris

  • Ile-de-France

  • Town planning

  • RER A

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