Gare du Nord

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Gare du Nord
Terminus
Main hall
Location	112 Rue de Maubeuge 75010 Paris Île-de-France France
Coordinates	48°52′51″N 2°21′19″E / 48.8809°N 2.3553°E / 48.8809; 2.3553
Owned by	SNCF
Line(s)	Paris–Lille railway
Platforms	36 (two not in service)
Other information
Station code	8727103 (SNCF) / 8727102 (RER)
IATA code	XPG
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	1846
Rebuilt	1889 (expanded 1930s-1960s)
Electrified	25 kV 50 Hz 1.5 kV DC (Underground RER lines)
Traffic
Passengers	214 million
Services Preceding station   Thalys   Following station Brussels-South toward Amsterdam Centraal Thalys Terminus Brussels-South toward Dortmund Hbf Eurostar Ashford International toward London St Pancras Eurostar Channel Tunnel Rail Link Terminus SNCF Lille-Flandres toward Lille-Flandres or Tourcoing TGV Terminus Lille Europe toward Calais Lille Europe toward Boulogne or Rang-du-Fliers Arras toward Dunkerque Arras toward Valenciennes Terminus Intercités Creil toward Boulogne-Ville Creil toward Cambrai or Maubeuge Transilien Saint-Denis toward Pontoise, Persan-Beaumont or Luzarches Transilien Aulnay-sous-Bois toward Crépy-en-Valois TER Hauts-de-France 20 Dammartin-Juilly-Saint-Mard toward Laon Orry-la-Ville-Coye toward Saint-Quentin TER Hauts-de-France 24 Terminus Orry-la-Ville-Coye toward Amiens TER Hauts-de-France 27 Terminus TER Hauts-de-France 29 Persan-Beaumont toward Beauvais RER La Plaine – Stade de France toward Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 – TGV or Mitry - Claye Châtelet – Les Halles toward Robinson or Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse Stade de France – Saint-Denis toward Creil Châtelet – Les Halles toward Melun or Malesherbes Connections to other stations RER Haussmann – Saint-Lazare Terminus Transfer at: Magenta Rosa Parks toward Chelles-Gournay or Tournan Paris Métro Barbès - Rochechouart toward Porte Dauphine Transfer at: La Chapelle Stalingrad toward Nation Gare de l'Est toward Mairie de Montrouge Transfer at: Gare du Nord Barbès – Rochechouart toward Porte de Clignancourt Gare de l'Est toward Place d'Italie Transfer at: Gare du Nord Stalingrad toward Bobigny - Pablo Picasso
Location
Gare du Nord Location within Paris Show map of Paris Gare du Nord Gare du Nord (Île-de-France (region)) Show map of Île-de-France (region) Gare du Nord Gare du Nord (France) Show map of France

Main entrance

Gare du Nord as seen from the Thalys platform

Detail of the main entrance of the Gare du Nord

Panoramic view of the arrival hall

Departure board showing typical destinations

Eurostar, Thalys and TGV trains fill the platforms

Passport stamp by French Border Police

Passport stamp by the UK Border Agency (which has since been replaced by the UK Border Force)

The Gare du Nord (pronounced [ɡaʁ dy nɔːʁ]) (Station of the North), officially Paris-Nord, is one of the six large terminus stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It serves train services toward regions north of Paris, along the Paris–Lille railway. Near Gare de l'Est in the 10th arrondissement, the Gare du Nord offers connections with several urban transport lines, including Paris Métro, RER and buses. By the number of travellers, at around 214 million per year, it is the busiest railway station in Europe by total passenger numbers^[1].

The Gare du Nord is the station for trains to Northern France and to international destinations in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The station complex was designed by the French architect Jacques Hittorff^[2] and built between 1861 and 1864.

The new part with the hall for the RER lines

History[edit]

The first Gare du Nord was built by Bridge and Roadway Engineers on behalf of the Chemin de Fer du Nord company, which was managed by Léonce Reynaud, professor of architecture at the École Polytechnique. The station was inaugurated on 14 June 1846, the same year as the launch of the Paris–Amiens–Lille rail link. Since the station was found to be too small in size, it was partially demolished in 1860 to provide space for the current station. The original station's façade was removed and transferred to Lille.

The chairman of the Chemin de Fer du Nord railway company, James Mayer de Rothschild, chose the French architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff to design the current station. Construction lasted from May 1861 to December 1865, but the new station opened for service while still under construction in 1864. The façade was designed around a triumphal arch and used many slabs of stone. The building has the usual U-shape of a terminus station. The main support beam is made out of cast iron. The support pillars inside the station were made at Alston & Gourley's ironworks in Glasgow in the United Kingdom, the only country with a foundry large enough for the task.

The sculptural display represents the principal cities served by the company. Eight of the nine most majestic statues, crowning the building along the cornice line, illustrate destinations outside France, with the ninth figure of Paris in the centre. Fourteen more modest statues representing northern European cities are lower on the façade. The sculptors represented are:

• London and Vienna by Jean-Louis Jaley
• Brussels and Warsaw by François Jouffroy
• Amsterdam by Charles Gumery
• Frankfurt by Gabriel Thomas
• Berlin by Jean-Joseph Perraud
• Cologne by Mathurin Moreau
• Paris, Boulogne and Compiegne by Pierre-Jules Cavelier
• Arras and Laon by Théodore-Charles Gruyère
• Lille and Beauvais by Charles-François Lebœuf
• Valenciennes and Calais by Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire
• Rouen and Amiens by Eugène-Louis Lequesne
• Douai and Dunkirk by Gustave Crauck
• Cambrai and Saint-Quentin by Auguste Ottin

It was originally planned that a monumental avenue would be constructed leading up to the station's façade, cutting through the old street layout. However, this was never built due to a dispute between de Rothschild and Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann during his rebuilding of Paris. One version claims that the lack of a boulevard was due to Haussmann discovering that his wife was having an affair with the Gare du Nord's architect, Jacques Ignace Hittorff, though this story is unlikely, since Hittorff, born in 1792, was seventy-three years old when the station was completed, and died two years later. Whatever the reason, the station has persistently suffered problems with a lack of space and poor access.^[3]

To remedy these problems, in 2015 SNCF engaged the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte to "open the station towards the city". It is intended that the station will undergo a major refurbishment to be completed by 2024, when Paris is to host the Olympic Games. The station will remain open during the renovations. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has also pledged to address the traffic problems in front of the station by reconfiguring its approaches.^[3]

Service[edit]

Like other Parisian railway stations, the Gare du Nord rapidly became too small to deal with the increase in railway traffic. In 1884, engineers were able to add five supplementary tracks. The interior was completely rebuilt in 1889 and an extension was built on the eastern side to serve suburban rail lines. More expansion work was carried out between the 1930s and the 1960s.

Beginning in 1906 and 1908, the station was served by the Metro Line 4, which crosses Paris from north to south, and the terminus of Metro Line 5, which ran to Étoile through Place d'Italie. In 1942, Line 5 was extended towards the northern suburbs of Pantin and Bobigny, while its south terminus was set to Place d'Italie. Metro Line 2 (station La Chapelle) is linked to the Gare du Nord via an underground tunnel. One enters the Métro station and, instead of climbing the stairs that lead to the elevated métro line (not all of Line 2 is elevated) descends several flights of stairs, before traversing a long, arched circular hallway to enter the station.

Finally, in 1994, the arrival of Eurostar trains required another reorganisation of the rail tracks:

• Platforms 1 and 2: Service platforms, not open to the public.
• Platforms 3 to 6: Terminus of the London Eurostar via the Channel Tunnel.
• Platforms 7 and 8: Thalys platforms for Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
• Platforms 9 to 18: TGV North Europe, Main Line trains, and some Picard TER.
• Platforms 19 to 21: Picard TER.
• Platforms 30 to 36: Suburban station, Transiliens and Picard TER (Paris-Beauvais line)
• Platforms 41 to 44 (underground): RER station, lines B and D.
• 4 Métro Platforms (underground): Lines 4&5

It is also connected to Magenta RER Station (4 platforms, line E) and La Chapelle Métro Station (2 platforms, line 2).

Today, the Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in Europe, with over 700,000 passengers daily. Most of the passengers are commuters travelling in from the northern suburbs of Paris and outlying towns; only 3 per cent of the traffic is accounted for by Eurostar.^[3]

There is a further construction project to build a connecting hallway between Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est, which is projected to open around the time when the new LGV Est begins serving the station. When open the Gare du Nord-Gare de l'Est complex (including Magenta & La Chapelle) will have 77 platforms.^{[citation needed]}

Security for the station is provided by the French police, the railways police and private security companies. Due to the position of the station as a gateway to the northern suburbs of Paris, there are some parts of the station where security incidents occur from time to time.^[4]

In popular culture[edit]

The Gare du Nord has served as a backdrop in numerous French films, for instance in Les Poupées Russes.

In Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love Linda first meets Fabrice in the Gare du Nord when she's run out of resources and is sitting weeping on her suitcase.

In US movies, both the exterior and the interior of the Gare du Nord are seen in the 2002 film The Bourne Identity with Matt Damon and again in the trilogy's finale, The Bourne Ultimatum, released in August 2007. It was also seen in Ocean's Twelve in 2004,^[5] and Mr Bean's Holiday in 2007. The ending of the 2012 movie The Raven by James McTeigue takes place at the station.

Scenes of Gossip Girl's episode "Double Identity" were shot inside the Gare du Nord.^[6]

Gare du Nord Method[edit]

Due to its nature as one of the most used train stations in Paris, the Gare du Nord has become a confluence of West African migrants looking for jobs, advice, and to pick up women. This is regarded as the Gare du Nord Method. ^[7]

Train services[edit]

The following services currently call at Paris Nord:

• High speed services (Eurostar) Paris – London (via Ashford International and/or Ebbsfleet International or direct)
• High speed services (Thalys) Paris – Brussels – Amsterdam
• High speed services (Thalys) Paris – Brussels – Cologne – Essen – Dortmund
• High speed services (Thalys) Paris – Brussels – Cologne
• High speed services (TGV) Paris – Lille
• High speed services (TGV) Paris – Lille – Tourcoing
• High speed services (TGV) Paris – Lille – Calais
• High speed services (TGV) Paris – Lille – Calais – Boulogne – Rang-du-Fliers
• High speed services (TGV) Paris – Lille – Dunkerque
• High speed services (TGV) Paris – Arras – Béthune – Dunkerque
• High speed services (TGV) Paris – Arras – Douai – Valenciennes
• Intercity services (Intercités) Paris – Amiens – Abbeville – Rang-du-Fliers – Boulogne
• Intercity services (Intercités) Paris – Saint-Quentin – Maubeuge
• Intercity services (Intercités) Paris – Saint-Quentin – Cambrai
• Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Saint-Denis – Montsoult-Maffliers – Luzarches
• Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Saint-Denis – Montsoult-Maffliers – Persan-Beaumont
• Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Saint-Denis – Ermont-Eaubonne – Persan-Beaumont
• Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Saint-Denis – Ermont-Eaubonne – Pontoise
• Regional services (Transilien) Paris – Aulnay-sous-Bois – Mitry-Claye – Crépy-en-Valois
• Regional services (TER Hauts-de-France) Paris – Crépy-en-Valois – Soissons – Laon
• Regional services (TER Hauts-de-France) Paris – Creil – Compiègne – Tergnier – Saint-Quentin
• Regional services (TER Hauts-de-France) Paris – Persan-Beaumont – Beauvais
• Regional services (TER Hauts-de-France) Paris – Orry-la-Ville – Creil – Saint-Just-en-Chaussée – Breteuil – Amiens

RER[edit]

Gare du Nord is well connected to the Paris RER network. Lines B and D call at platforms under the station. Line B serves Charles de Gaulle Airport (Roissy), Mitry – Claye in the north-east of the city and Antony (for Orly Airport), Massy-Palaiseau) (for Massy TGV and Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse in south-west Paris. Line D offers a quick connection between Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon and many areas of south-east Paris. Line D also operates to northern Paris, to Saint-Denis and Creil.

Both lines B and D serve Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The RER station is directly connected to Magenta station, which was constructed further underground to the east of the Gare du Nord. It is served by the RER E line that offers a link between the Gare du Nord and Saint-Lazare/Gare Saint-Lazare and to eastern Paris, to Bondy, Chelles and Tournan-en-Brie.

Paris Métro[edit]

• Lines 4 and 5, whose following station is Gare de l'Est.
• There has been a connecting hallway connecting the RER station with La Chapelle on Line 2 since the 1990s.

[ v t e ] Eurostar services
Legend
h:mm 0:00 London St Pancras 0:14 Ebbsfleet International 0:29 Ashford International 0:31 British portal Channel Tunnel UK France border 0:51 French portal 0:55 Calais-Fréthun 1:22 Lille Europe France Belgium border 2:01 Brussels-South Belgium Netherlands border 3:01 Rotterdam Centraal 3:41 Amsterdam Centraal 2:16 Paris-Nord 2:40 Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy Seasonal and extended services 4:41 Lyon-Part-Dieu 5:49 Avignon TGV 6:27 Marseille-Saint-Charles   7:12 Moûtiers 7:30 Aime-La Plagne (set down only) 7:51 Bourg-Saint-Maurice
Fastest timetabled journeys from London St Pancras

See also[edit]

• List of stations of the Paris RER
• List of stations of the Paris Métro
• List of works by Henri Chapu Sculptor of statue representing Beauvais

Notes and references[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gare de Paris-Nord.

• Gare du Nord at Transilien, the official website of SNCF (in French)
• Gare du Nord.fr Information on visiting Gare du Nord
• Images of Gare du Nord
• Gare du Nord Photo Tour | Paris By Train
• High-resolution 360° Panorama of Gare du Nord | Art Atlas
• Gare du Nord at "Gares & Connexions", the official website of SNCF (in French)