• Ile-de-France Mobilités, which organizes transport in the region, has unveiled the names of four stations born from the extension of line 14: Saint-Denis Pleyel, Hôpital Bicêtre, Villejuif-Gustave Roussy and L'Haÿ-les-Roses .

  • Names subject to public consultation, but which do not shine by their originality.

  • If they remain so consensual, it is because they must fulfill a series of criteria intended to make life easier for the traveler.

Saint-Denis Pleyel, Hôpital Bicêtre, Villejuif-Gustave Roussy, L'Haÿ-les-Roses… Here are the names of the future stations born from the extension of line 14, as revealed on Wednesday by Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM ) in a press release.

Difficult to arouse enthusiasm in front of such consensual names.

Yes, but Ile-de-France residents have voted, some will answer.

And they will be right since the names were submitted for public consultation from June 20 to July 4.

Except that the alternatives didn't do anything more to raise hairs.

Judge for yourself for the station north of the line, we had the choice between: Saint-Denis Pleyel, Carrefour Pleyel or even Ignace Pleyel… We fell out of our chair.

So why so little fantasy?

Quite simply because a station name, before looking pretty, it must inform the traveler.

And meet certain criteria that IDFM has listed for us.

The first of them is geographical because the name must “take into account the toponymy of the place of establishment of the station”, specifies the organizing authority of transport in the region.

She adds "the name is primarily intended to help travelers find their way around easily, which is why we find street names (Rennes, Raspail), the indication of a space or a public or remarkable building (Mairie de Montrouge, Place d'Italie, Père Lachaise), or more simply the name of the town where it is located.

"Disturb the habits of users as little as possible"

Then there are specific rules.

To find out more easily what the destination of the line is, the "name of the terminus must include the name of the municipality where it is located".

Smart and very practical.

Obviously, the new name must not already exist to avoid confusion and missed dates.

On the other hand, IDFM specifies that “for technical and accessibility reasons, the names […] must be short and easy to understand for all travelers”.

Finally, as part of the Grand Paris Express (GPE) which provides for 68 new stations, a large number of them will be in connection.

In this case, the name is kept in order to "disturb the habits of users as little as possible and to control the financial cost that this could generate".

Attentive readers and rail fanatics will object that the new Barbara station on the southern portion of line 4 does not really meet the first criterion.

In fact yes, since the singer, to whom the station pays tribute, rests in the nearby Bagneux cemetery.

Above all, this appointment contributes to IDFM's desire to promote cultural heritage, particularly for tourism purposes.

Thus, it "ensures that the names of emblematic cultural and tourist sites (when their attendance is significant) are included in the name of the station/station, thus ensuring coherence and sobriety in the network, as is the case with the Grand Palais, the Parc de la Villette or the Center Georges-Pompidou”.

In summary, we cannot do anything in the naming of stations.

There is therefore little chance of one day having a “Les Forbans” station.

In addition, the name selection procedure is not done on a corner of the table.

A list of names respecting the criteria cited above is drawn up and discussed between IDFM, the contracting authority and the municipalities served in order to "guarantee regional and local consistency".

Then, at the request of Valérie Pécresse, president of IDFM and the region, the list is submitted to the vote of the Ile-de-France residents.

Thus, the 16 new GPE stations that will have to be named, in addition to the 4 of the 14, will be named after a public consultation.

For the new stations on line 4 (Barbara and Bagneux-Lucie Aubrac), 30,000 Ile-de-France residents had given their opinion.

The next consultation will take place next November,

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  • Paris

  • Ile-de-France

  • Subway

  • RATP

  • Public transport

  • Valerie Pécresse

  • Greater Paris