• Finally quite rare given the number of trains circulating each day, the evacuations under tunnel nevertheless mark the spirits with these lines of travelers walking in the dark along the tracks.

  • These evacuations are feared by the RATP for security reasons, but also because they paralyze traffic for sometimes several hours.

  • This is why the carrier has implemented a whole protocol with the command center and agents in the field to intervene as quickly as possible as soon as an incident is reported in order to avoid evacuations under tunnels as much as possible.

“I was called for a door problem on an RER at Châtelet station and as I arrived at the end of the platform, I saw passengers a little further down the tunnel coming down from another RER.

» When Mélissa discovers this spontaneous evacuation, she immediately contacts her hierarchy and sets off on the tracks to control the disorderly flow of travellers.

Because Mélissa, for ten years a versatile supervisor at the RATP, is also the incident manager in the event of a glitch on the RER A, at least on the RATP part.

Deployed in the field, it is she who coordinates the teams in the event of evacuation in conjunction with the Single Command Center (CCU) located at the RER station in Vincennes.

And evacuations, which are the obsession of travelers, are also for the RATP.

They are both complex and dangerous and the Paris carrier does everything to avoid them.

It is with this in mind that the CCU was set up in February 2019, which brings together the RATP, the SNCF and manages "incidents in real time in connection with agents in stations", explains Philippe Lopez, director of the line a.

The risk of incidents

"The RER A is 1.1 million passengers per day with trains every 2'30 in peak hours", he recalls.

Consequently, in the event of a blockage of a train, you can quickly find yourself with other trains stopped in inter-stations, that is to say in the tunnels.

"A traveler's discomfort and it's a stop of 7 to 10 minutes and therefore potentially 3-4 trains accumulating in a tunnel", specifies Mathieu Hemour, manager of the RER transport division.

And that, the RATP wants to avoid at all costs because in general an evacuation generates secondary incidents and because evacuating the 2,500 passengers of a train on the tracks takes between an hour and an hour and a half, sometimes more if the train is stopped far from a station.

This is why as soon as a driver reports a problem to the CCU, the supervisor, or head of the room, and his three heads of regulations do everything to limit the trains in interstations by asking the trains following the victim of an incident to stay at the train station.

"We prefer to evacuate passengers at the dock rather than in a tunnel", comments Philippe Lopez.

In general, if the incident is not resolved within half an hour, it is decided to evacuate the train.

Avoid panic

But as passengers have to wait, the RATP "has worked a lot on the driver's speaking because it reduces the anxiety of travelers", explains the line manager.

Because, and this is not a surprise, panic never produces positive effects.

Thus, sounding the alarm signal of a stationary train frees the doors and therefore allows passengers to descend onto the tracks, the famous spontaneous evacuation.

"In these cases, we cut the power to stop the trains and prevent any risk of electrocution," says Mathieu Hemour.

This is what happened on July 18 on the RER B and D at the Gare du Nord.

Due to a suspected passenger on the tracks, a message was sent to all trains to stop.

Except that in one of the trains, probably because of the scorching heat of that day, "the alarm signal was pulled after two minutes", says the head of the RER transport pole.

And it was the start of the spontaneous evacuation which completely paralyzed traffic.

Not to mention that it was also necessary to prevent other travelers from accessing the platforms so as not to hinder the evacuation.



It is in this type of situation that Mélissa intervenes to “manage and guide travelers”.

But she and her colleagues, about fifteen permanently on the section of the RER A managed by the RATP, do not only manage flows.

Above all, they are “the eyes and ears of the CCU”.

"Since 2018 and the evacuations on line 1, we have trained these agents so that they can intervene on the tracks," says Philippe Lopez.

Mélissa is thus able to drive a train in the event of the driver's failure, and it is she who makes the decisions on the ground in agreement with the CCU.

And in case of evacuation, it is always she who will bring up the rear.

So for him avoid cold sweats, do not activate the alarm signal lightly.

Paris

Ile-de-France: Lack of drivers, RER C and D canceled for the start of the school year

Paris

RATP: Evacuation of several trains on metro line 3

  • Paris

  • Ile-de-France

  • RATP

  • Public transport

  • RER

  • Subway

  • Accident