Paris set for major transport upgrade as new Metro network takes shape

Paris [France], December 6 : The transportation system in Paris is set for a major overhaul, as a Grand Paris Express, a new 200 Km (120 mile) system, will add four lines and 68 brand new stations to the existing Metro rail network, CNN reported.
According to the report on Tuesday, the Paris Metro railway system, built in the 1900s and now carrying nearly four million passengers every day, is struggling to cope with the demands of modern commuting, its ageing facilities and infrastructure creaking under the city's growing population.
For many in Paris, particularly those living or working around its less fashionable outer suburbs, it's a challenge to navigate across the city without having to route each journey through the central districts, adding travel time and worsening congestion.
The new routes will mainly be connecting suburban towns without passing through the densely populated city of Paris - adding outer rings to an underground map of Paris that has, until now, been made of 14 lines that only reach out from the center like spokes, CNN reported.
The new project will introduce four new lines--15, 16, 17 and 18--plus extensions to existing lines 11 and 14.
CNN reported that it's been an epic undertaking. Construction of the lines, which began in 2016, is the biggest civilian infrastructure project in Europe, according to the French government.
Inevitably, given the scale, it has been hit by delays, the report noted.
The 108-meter-long six-car train, the first of its kind produced by Alstom for the Grand Paris Express, made its debut amid triumphal music and a light show of lasers in the colours of the French flag colours -- white, blue and red.
"To change people's lives, we will have to change how they move," French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said at the November 28 event, which saw the train make a successful two-kilometre test run along a section of line 15, one of the new routes, CNN reported.
"We are on the right track for success," Beaune said, adding, "It will serve as a good example for cities across France."
It is hoped that the Grand Paris Express will significantly cut transport time for suburb-to-suburb movement on public transit and reduce car usage for residents in the Greater Paris region.
Unlike other Metro lines, it will use driverless trains to create a fully automatic rapid transport network, meaning there will be no need to hire and train new drivers, CNN reported, adding that there will be greater resilience against disruptions from strikes.
Paris was among the world's first cities to have a metro system. Its first line opened in 1900 as part of the city's construction efforts to host the Olympic Games that same year. It expanded rapidly and extensively during the decades that followed.
CNN reported that before the opening of the Grand Paris Express, it had already evolved into a sprawling 800-kilometre mega system encompassing 16 central city metro lines and five Reseau Express Regional, or RER, commuter rail lines for the surrounding suburbs.