The commission of inquiry on the extension of line 1 of the Paris metro has issued an unfavorable opinion on the planned connection between the city of Vincennes and that of Fontenay-sous-Bois, in the Val-de-Marne, indicated Tuesday the prefecture.

The commission, appointed by the administrative court of Melun and which submitted its report at the beginning of May to the prefecture of Val-de-Marne, considers that if the objective "presents indeed a character of general interest, the balance advantages/disadvantages of all of the criteria unquestionably lean towards the inconveniences that such a project would generate”.

The project provides for the creation of a tunnel approximately 5 km long, three new stations (Les Rigollots, Grands Pêchers and Val-de-Fontenay) and a train repair center behind the station in the town of Neuilly -Plaisance.

The objective is to open up several districts of Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne and to reduce the carbon footprint of their inhabitants.

The commission considers that the project is both too expensive (1.7 billion euros), that the work has already been delayed, that it harms the environment.

It also points to the risk of flooding linked to the proximity of a water table.

Nearly 100,000 additional travelers per day

“We are going to look at the conclusions of the investigating commissioner and respond to them so that this project can be done,” a spokesperson for Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) told AFP.

For the regional transport authority, "this project is vital, because it makes it possible to open up the east of Vincennes, the south of Montreuil and Fontenay-sous-Bois in lack of public transport".

"This is a real shock for the elected representatives of this sector and for the thousands of people who support this extension and are waiting for solutions to their travel difficulties in a context of climate emergency", reacted the communist group to the regional council, asking that IDFM include the issue on the agenda of its next board of directors, on May 25.

The cities that would be served by this project are already connected with the RER A and E, and eventually with line 15 of the Grand Paris metro and the extension of the T1 tramway, notes the commission of inquiry.

Line 1 should nevertheless carry some 95,000 additional passengers per day with the planned extension.

The work was scheduled to be carried out between 2028 and 2035.

Paris

Bois de Vincennes: Tensions around the project to extend metro line 1

92% of people would be in favor of extending line 1

  • Paris

  • Metro

  • RATP

  • Vincennes

  • Ile-de-France