1.
RER A
–
RER line A is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving Paris, France. The line runs from the termini of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Cergy Le Haut and Poissy to the eastern termini of Boissy-Saint-Léger. It is formed from the connection of the Saint-Germain-en-Laye-Nanterre line in the west to the Vincennes – Boissy-St-Léger line in the east, two branches were added in the west, to Poissy and the new town of Cergy-Pontoise, and in the east to the new town of Marne-la-Vallée. The two latest extensions were to Cergy-Le Haut and Disneyland Paris, with more than one million passengers per workday, line A is the busiest Parisian RER and metro line. Ever-increasing traffic volume and the need to ward off imminent saturation have been factors in RATP. SACEM is still one of the most advanced traffic control systems, parisians have become used to the sight of a train pulling into a station as the one before it is just clearing the platform. Around the same time, RATP ordered a significant number of MI79/MI84 trains to remedy premature wear and tear on MS61 stock caused by over-utilization on Line A. Later in the 1980s, the need to relieve congestion on the segment of Line A was a key factor in selecting the route of the new. The same need governed the choice of the route of RER Line E in the early 1990s and is a factor in plans for that lines westward or south-westward extension. A new class of double-deck trains entered service in 1998, in part a product of RATPs belief that no further infrastructure improvement would relieve congestion on Line A. This was followed in 2011 by the MI09 double-decker stock, aimed at replacing the aging MI84, one simple solution to the congestion problem that has never been implemented is a change in the seating configuration in the trains. The RER is unusual among high-capacity urban train networks in its attachment to transverse seating, a change to longitudinal seating typically reduces the number of seats by 10% but increases standing room by 30%. The result is increased capacity and a less cramped ride for those without seats,14 December 1969, RATP buys the ligne de Vincennes from SNCF, connecting Bastille with Boissy-Saint-Léger in the east. A new 2. 5-km tunnel between Vincennes and Nation, which replaces Bastille as the terminus, length,17.5 km.21 February 1970, RATP buys the ligne de St-Germain from SNCF, connecting the Gare Saint-Lazare with Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the west. A new tunnel between La Défense and the Place de lÉtoile, which replaces St-Lazare as the terminus, shuttle service is operated La Défense – Étoile,4 km.23 November 1971, Tunnel opened Étoile – Auber,2 km. Shuttle service extended to operate La Défense – Auber,1 October 1972, Tunnel opened La Défense – Nanterre-Université,2 km. Shuttle service extended on the ligne de St-Germain to operate Saint-Germain – Auber, October 1973, New underground station, Nanterre-Préfecture, between La Défense and Nanterre-Université. 9 December 1977, The lines are connected by a 6-km tunnel, giving birth to the RER A line, two new stations, Châtelet-les Halles and Gare de Lyon
RER A
–
An MI 2N train at
Charles de Gaulle – Étoile, with the SIEL information system visible.
RER A
–
Map of RER line A
RER A
–
An MS 61 train at
Auber.
RER A
–
A train arriving at
Auber while the previous one has not completely cleared the platform, caused by the rapid pace of SACEM.
2.
RER B
–
The RER B is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving Paris, France. The line runs from the northern termini Aéroport Charles de Gaulle and Mitry-Claye to the southern termini Robinson and Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse. First opened,9 December 1977 Length,80.0 km Number of stops,47 Traffic,165,100,000 journeys per annum The southern part of the line is operated by RATP, trains are owned by either company. Until December 2009, drivers changed at Gare du Nord, RATP, trains moving from one network to the other at this station is known as the Interconnexion. Line B was the product of the connection in 1977 of the Ligne de Sceaux terminus, Luxembourg,1846, The Ligne de Sceaux is inaugurated from Massy to Denfert-Rochereau. 1862, The Chemin de Fer du Nord line from Paris to Soissons via Mitry-Claye is opened, from 1889 to 1895, The Ligne de Sceaux is extended from Denfert-Rochereau to Luxembourg. 1937, The CMP buys from the PO company the ligne de Sceaux which connected the Luxembourg Garden to Robinson,1976, A new 13.5 km long line from Aulnay-sous-Bois to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport is opened, linking it with Paris. 9 December 1977, The ligne de Sceaux is extended to Châtelet-les Halles,2 km, january 1983, New station, Parc-des-Expositions, opened. 7 June 1983, Some trains work through between points north and south of Gare du Nord, service increased in 1984 and 1987
RER B
–
Inside an almost empty RER B
RER B
–
Geographically accurate path of the RER B
RER B
–
Luxembourg on the RER B.
RER B
–
Inside an RER B.
3.
RER C
–
The RER C is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving Paris, France. The RER C is the second longest line in the network, each day, over 531 trains run on the RER C alone, and carries over 490,000 passengers daily, which is 100,000 passengers more than the entirety of over 800 TGVs. It is also the most popular RER line for tourists which represents 15% of its passengers, as the line serves many monuments and museums, within the city, the RER functions like the Métro, but is faster as it has fewer stops. This has made it a model for proposals to improve transit within other cities, services operated between Versailles-Château – Invalides – Quai-dOrsay, branching to Massy – Palaiseau, and Juvisy – Dourdan / Saint-Martin dÉtampes. May 1980, Service extended Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines – Versailles – Chantiers – Gare des Invalides, on 25 September 1988 the VMI branch to the north-west opened. This extended services to Montigny – Beauchamp and Argenteuil, porte de Clichy opened on 29 September 1991. Located between Pereire – Levallois and St-Ouen, in 1992 the line was extended from Juvisy to Versailles. A further 9 kilometres extension from Montigny – Beauchamp to Pontoise was opened on 28 August 2000, on the same day a new station, Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, opened in order to create a new connexion with Métro Line 14. Located between Paris-Austerlitz and Boulevard Masséna, another new station, St-Ouen-lAumône-Liesse, opened on 24 March 2002. The C3 branch transferred to the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail network on 27 August 2006, on 16 December 2006, Boulevard Victor was renamed Boulevard Victor – Pont du Garigliano to highlight the new interchange with tramway line T3. In February 2012, Versailles - Rive Gauche was renamed Versailles-Château, to avoid frequent tourists confusions with other stations in Versailles
RER C
–
The view from
Île aux Cygnes towards the
Eiffel Tower, with a RER-C train crossing the
Pont Rouelle.
4.
RER D
–
The RER D is one of five RER rapid transit system lines serving Paris, France. It connects Orry-la-Ville and Creil in the north to Melun, Corbeil-Essonnes and Malesherbes in the south, passing through the heart of Paris. Opened in stages from 1987 to 1996, it is the longest RER line by distance, due to a high rate of incidents and social issues, the line is sometimes colloquially known as the RER poubelle. Line D also links Gare du Nord with Gare de Lyon via Châtelet – Les-Halles, operated Villiers-le-Bel – Gare du Nord – Châtelet-Les Halles,19 km, using the Line B Tunnel to Châtelet – Les Halles 1988, Extension north towards Goussainville. September 1990, Extension north towards Orry-la-Ville, September 1995, Inauguration of Interconnexion Sud-Est. The line is extended from Châtelet to Melun and La Ferté-Alais then Malesherbes in the south of Paris,25 January 1998, New station, Stade de France – Saint-Denis, opened. Located between Gare du Nord and St-Denis,29 January 2007, First renovated Z20500 stock in service. 19 March 2008, Start of the D Maintenant programme by Guillaume Pepy,14 December 2008, Reduced Interconnexion Nord-Sud service, with 8 interconnected trains per hour. Late 2009, End of the D Maintenant programme,7 December 2011, Start of studies for the doubling of the Châtelet-Gare du Nord tunnel. 15 December 2013, New station, Créteil-Pompadour, opened, the operation of renovating les Halles gave the occasion to build Châtelet-Les Halles with a cut-and-cover method, in order to reduce costs. Initially, the new RER D was meant to share with the RER A between Paris-Gare de Lyon and Châtelet-Les Halles. But, RATP, the company who runs the RER A, objected to such an operation as the number of passengers using the RER A was growing and required running extra trains on the RER A. The RER D tracks at Paris-Gare de Lyon have four tracks and being above the RER A tracks, allowed platform to platform transfers vertically, a Japanese invention. On 27 September 1987, the RER D was officially created, by extending existing suburban trains from Villiers-le-Bel to Gare du Nord, initially 19 km long, it was equipped with bi-current Z8800 stock trains, while newer Z20500 stock trains were still being built. At Châtelet-Les Halles station, the RER D terminated on the three tracks, already built from the conception of Châtelet-Les Halles station. In 1988, existing suburban trains terminating at Goussainville now integrate with the RER D, on the same year, the first bi-mode Z20500 trains are in service. They were initially composed of 4 cars until the north-south interconnection was inaugurated in 1995, in September 1990, the RER D again extended north to Orry-la-Ville. In 1996, the RER D was extended south from La Ferté-Alais to Malesherbes, on 15 January 1998 for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, St-Denis – Stade de France station opened, in order to serve the Stade de France
RER D
–
Gare de Lyon underground station on June 2008.
RER D
–
Villeneuve - Triage station, on June 2007. On the left, track 2M towards Paris, on the right track 1B towards Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, and next to it, track 2B towards Paris.
RER D
–
A
Z 20500 train at Corbeil-Essonnes station, in April 2007.
RER D
–
Protesters at
Yerres on October 17th, 2009
5.
Transilien
–
The Transilien is the brand name of the suburban railway service of the SNCF-owned railway network operating within the Île-de-France région. Transilien is a derivative of Francilien, a commonly used to describe the inhabitants of the Île-de-France. Transilien trains depart from Paris main railway and RER stations and the business district of La Défense. Transilien services transported 615 million passengers in 2004, the first line to the suburbs of Paris was opened on the 26 August 1837. The route went from Paris-Saint-Lazare to Le Pecq, the railway link was thought of as key to the western suburbs. On 1 October 1972, the line was handed over to the RER, the transilien is divided into six key entities, which are divided according to SNCF guidelines and are in no way related to the departmental boundaries. The lines are divided into branches which, similarly to the RER, are given letters, although until 2005. The importance of these glitches in the network are visible at times when SNCF staff go on strike or when serious technical problems occur on the network. Thousands of travellers arrive late for work, or when there are serious problems, the extent of the lines means that concentric zoning is used. Trains bound for the zones are normally operated as express trains, meaning trains serve Paris termini then operate non-stop to the outer zones. The rolling stock used on the Transilien comes from a long evolution of the material in the suburbs, the design used for the rehabilitation and rejuvenation of the fleet was conducted by two outside agencies under contracts awarded in October 2000. RCP Design Global provided exterior design and interior signage, and Avant Première the interior, all vehicles received a new blue and gray Transilien livery with panels of color to highlight doors and internal characteristics. Everything was treated with a graffiti resistant coating to reduce the impact of vandalism, the trains are equipped with a new ergonomic design of seating with individual seats instead of the traditional banks. They are covered with vandal-resistant fabric in blue, yellow and red
Transilien
–
A Transilien train
Transilien
–
The Transilien network in the Île-de-France region
Transilien
–
Map detail of the Paris region
Transilien
–
Transilien upper room.
6.
MP 05
–
The MP05 is a rubber-tyred electric multiple unit with automatic operation ordered by the RATP in 2005 for the Paris Métro. The original 49 units were designed to replace the older MP 89s on line 1 in order to automate the line, the trainsets are being constructed by Alstom. The MP05 trains are the second Paris Métro rolling stock to include air-conditioning, following the success of the completely automated line 14 during the early 2000s, the RATP planned to automate additional lines. The RATP first focused on line 1, the busiest line of the network, however, the lines MP89 CC rolling stock was not equipped to be automated. The RATP opted to replacing the stock rather than retrofit it since the existing MP89 trainsets could be repurposed as-is to replace the aging MP 59s on line 4. On October 23,2015, Alstom and the RATP celebrated the production of the 67th, the total order was for €474 million —about €9.7 million per train. Alstom began constructing the first trains in 2008 in Valenciennes, the first train was delivered to the RATP at the beginning of May 2009, to the service depot at Fontenay. At the end of March 2010, the train was delivered to the same depot. At the ground-breaking for the construction of automatic boarding doors in the stations, on November 3,2011, trains 501 through 509 went into regular passenger service. As of April 1,2013, there are 49 trains are in passenger service, with an option for 10 more trains if needed fr. On May 27,2009, the STIF ordered four MP05 trains at a cost of around €50 million to supplement line 14s existing fleet of MP 89CA trains. These four trains, which entered service beginning in 2013, are in the same RATP livery as older trains on the line, an additional 14 more trains were later ordered in preparation for the northern extension towards Mairie de Saint-Ouen. The additional trains will be in joint RATP–STIF livery, as of 2015 it is expected that around 2020 the next generation MP14 railcars of 8-car formations will begin to replace the MP 89CA and MP05 stock. This will allow both precedent stock to be reassigned to other lines, such as Line 1 or Line 4, as of May 2015, five additional trains have been placed into service on Line 1. These trains are numbered 550 to 554, and are painted in the RATP/STIF livery and this leaves railcars 585 through 594 to be assigned to Line 14. The MP 05s are based on the MP 89s and their appearance is the same. The design was conceived by Yo Kaminagai, the trains are equipped with a Dilidam multimedia system and security cameras, as well as an air conditioning system, with an output of 11 kW, housed on the roof. Most trains are equipped with gangways that are similar to that of the MP 89CA stock
MP 05
–
An MP 05 train in service on Line 1, on the Pont de Neuilly, between Esplanade de la Défense station and Pont de Neuilly station.
MP 05
–
An MP 05 at the Fontenay service depot
MP 05
–
Interior arrangement of a new MP 05 train.
MP 05
–
The
bogie of an MP 05, showing the
flanged steel wheel inside the
rubber tired one, as well as the vertical
contact shoe on top of the
steel rail.
7.
Track gauge
–
In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
Track gauge
–
Indian Narrow and Broad gauge tracks
Track gauge
–
Track gauge
Track gauge
–
Fish-belly cast-iron rails from the Cromford and High Peak Railway
Track gauge
–
An early Stephenson locomotive
8.
Standard gauge
–
The standard gauge is a widely used railway track gauge. Approximately 55% of the lines in the world are this gauge, all high-speed rail lines, except those in Russia, Uzbekistan, and Finland, are standard gauge. The distance between the edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States. It is also called the UIC gauge or UIC track gauge, as railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge to be used. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a gauge of 1435 mm. In North East England, some lines in colliery areas were 4 ft 8 in. All these lines had been widened to standard gauge by 1846, parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. However, until well into the half of the 19th century, Britain. The American gauges converged as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent, notably, all the 5 ft broad gauge track in the South was converted to standard gauge over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. See Track gauge in the United States, snopes categorized this legend as false, but commented that. It is perhaps more fairly labelled as True, but for trivial, the historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles approximately 5 feet apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts. Others were 4 ft 4 in or 4 ft 7 1⁄2 in, the English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for the coal mines of County Durham. He favoured 4 ft 8 in for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham, the Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge. Stephensons Stockton and Darlington railway was primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees. The initial gauge of 4 ft 8 in was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge, George Stephenson used the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The success of this led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, authorised 1824 and opened 1825, used 4 ft 6 in, Dundee and Newtyle Railway, authorised 1829 and opened 1831, used 4 ft 6 1⁄2 in
Standard gauge
–
Track gauge
9.
Railway electrification system
–
A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure, selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas, some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation, Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network, some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own lines, switches and transformers. Power is supplied to moving trains with a continuous conductor running along the track usually takes one of two forms. The first is a line or catenary wire suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings. Locomotives or multiple units pick up power from the wire with pantographs on their roofs that press a conductive strip against it with a spring or air pressure. Examples are described later in this article, the second is a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding pickup shoe. Both overhead wire and third-rail systems usually use the rails as the return conductor. In comparison to the alternative, the diesel engine, electric railways offer substantially better energy efficiency, lower emissions. Electric locomotives are usually quieter, more powerful, and more responsive and they have no local emissions, an important advantage in tunnels and urban areas. Different regions may use different supply voltages and frequencies, complicating through service, the limited clearances available under catenaries may preclude efficient double-stack container service. Possible lethal electric current due to risk of contact with high-voltage contact wires, overhead wires are safer than third rails, but they are often considered unsightly. These are independent of the system used, so that. The permissible range of voltages allowed for the voltages is as stated in standards BS EN50163. These take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation, railways must operate at variable speeds. Until the mid 1980s this was only practical with the brush-type DC motor, since such conversion was not well developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most early electrified railways used DC and many still do, particularly rapid transit and trams
Railway electrification system
–
Electric locomotives under the wires in
Sweden.
Railway electrification system
–
Railroad
rotary converter at
Illinois Railway Museum
Railway electrification system
–
Mercury arc rectifier
10.
Volt
–
The volt is the derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. One volt is defined as the difference in potential between two points of a conducting wire when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power between those points. It is also equal to the difference between two parallel, infinite planes spaced 1 meter apart that create an electric field of 1 newton per coulomb. Additionally, it is the difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of charge that passes through it. It can also be expressed as amperes times ohms, watts per ampere, or joules per coulomb, for the Josephson constant, KJ = 2e/h, the conventional value KJ-90 is used, K J-90 =0.4835979 GHz μ V. This standard is typically realized using an array of several thousand or tens of thousands of junctions. Empirically, several experiments have shown that the method is independent of device design, material, measurement setup, etc. in the water-flow analogy sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them with water-filled pipes, voltage is likened to difference in water pressure. Current is proportional to the diameter of the pipe or the amount of water flowing at that pressure. A resistor would be a reduced diameter somewhere in the piping, the relationship between voltage and current is defined by Ohms Law. Ohms Law is analogous to the Hagen–Poiseuille equation, as both are linear models relating flux and potential in their respective systems, the voltage produced by each electrochemical cell in a battery is determined by the chemistry of that cell. Cells can be combined in series for multiples of that voltage, mechanical generators can usually be constructed to any voltage in a range of feasibility. High-voltage electric power lines,110 kV and up Lightning, Varies greatly. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of metals to produce electricity was zinc. In 1861, Latimer Clark and Sir Charles Bright coined the name volt for the unit of resistance, by 1873, the British Association for the Advancement of Science had defined the volt, ohm, and farad. In 1881, the International Electrical Congress, now the International Electrotechnical Commission and they made the volt equal to 108 cgs units of voltage, the cgs system at the time being the customary system of units in science. At that time, the volt was defined as the difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. The international volt was defined in 1893 as 1/1.434 of the emf of a Clark cell and this definition was abandoned in 1908 in favor of a definition based on the international ohm and international ampere until the entire set of reproducible units was abandoned in 1948. Prior to the development of the Josephson junction voltage standard, the volt was maintained in laboratories using specially constructed batteries called standard cells
Volt
–
Josephson junction array chip developed by the
National Bureau of Standards as a standard volt
Volt
–
A
multimeter can be used to measure the voltage between two positions.
Volt
–
1.5 V C-cell batteries
Volt
–
Alessandro Volta
11.
Direct current
–
Direct current is a flow of electrical charge carriers that always takes place in the same direction. The current need not always have the magnitude, but if it is to be defined as dc. This contrasts with alternating current which varies the direction of flow, sources of direct current include power supplies, electrochemical cells and batteries, and photovoltaic cells and panels. The intensity, or amplitude, of a direct current might fluctuate with time, in some such cases the dc has an ac component superimposed on it. An example of this is the output of a cell that receives a modulated light communications signal. A source of dc is sometimes called a dc generator, batteries and various other sources of dc produce a constant voltage. This is called pure dc and can be represented by a straight, the peak and effective values are the same. The peak to peak value is zero because the instantaneous amplitude never changes, in some instances the value of a dc voltage pulsates or oscillates rapidly with time, in a manner similar to the changes in an ac wave. The unfiltered output of a wave or a full wave rectifier. In 1820, Hans Christian Orsted discovered that electrical current creates a magnetic field and this discovery made scientists relate magnetism to the electric phenomena. In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. He improved a 50-year-old idea using lower current electricity, a vacuum inside the globe and a small carbonized filament. At that time, the idea of lightning was not new. Edison not only invented an incandescent electric light, but an electric lighting system contained all the necessary elements to make the incandescent light safe, economical. Prior to 1879, direct current electricity had been used in lighting for the outdoors and it was in the 1880s when the modern electric utility industry began. It was an evolution from street lighting systems and from gas and it was located in Lower Manhattan, on Pearl Street. This station provided light and electricity to customers in a one square mile range, the station was called Thomas Edisons Pearl Street Electricity Generating Station. This station introduced four elements of an electric utility system, Efficient distribution, competitive price, reliable central generation
Direct current
–
Direct Current (red curve). The horizontal axis measures time; the vertical, current or voltage.
12.
Seine
–
The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second
Seine
–
The Seine in Paris
Seine
–
Seine source
Seine
–
The
Pont de Normandie over the Seine, between
Le Havre and
Honfleur, on the
Normandy coast
Seine
–
The Seine and Eiffel Tower
13.
Paris-Gare de Lyon
–
Paris-Gare de Lyon is one of the six large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. It handles about 90,000,000 passengers every year, making it the third busiest station of France and it is the northern terminus of the Paris–Marseille railway. It is named after the city of Lyon, a stop for many long-distance trains departing here, the station is located in the XIIe arrondissement, on the north bank of the river Seine, in the east of Paris. The station is served by high-speed TGV trains to south and eastern France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the station also hosts regional trains and the RER and also by the Gare de Lyon metro station. There are a further 4 platforms for the RER underneath the main lines, the station was built for the World Exposition of 1900. On multiple levels, it is considered an example of the architecture of its time. Most notable is the clock tower atop one corner of the station, similar in style to the clock tower of the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament. The station houses the Le Train Bleu restaurant, which has served drinks and meals to travellers, on 27 June 1988, in the Gare de Lyon train accident, a runaway train crashed into a stationary rush-hour train, killing 56 people and injuring a further 55. From Gare de Lyon train services depart to major French cities such as, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Montpellier, Perpignan, Dijon, Besançon, Mulhouse, Grenoble and a number of destinations in the Alps. International services operate to Italy, Turin, Milan and Venice, Switzerland, Geneva, Zurich, Bern, Interlaken, Lausanne and Brig, Germany Freiburg im Breisgau and Spain, Barcelona. For the Gare de lEst, either walk to nearby Quai de la Rapée Métro station for Line 5, or take Line 1 from Lyon north to Bastille station and this is also another way to reach the Gare du Nord. For Gare Saint-Lazare, take Métro Line 14, for Gare Montparnasse, catch a 91 bus, which goes there directly. Or take the Métro Line 14 to Châtelet and then change for Line 4 to Montparnasse-Bienvenüe, for Gare dAusterlitz the 5-10mn walk south across Pont Charles de Gaulle or Pont dAusterlitz is quickest. The station has appeared in the films,1972, Travels with My Aunt, directed by George Cukor 2005, The Mystery of the Blue Train
Paris-Gare de Lyon
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Entrance
Paris-Gare de Lyon
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Outside the station, with its large clock tower
Paris-Gare de Lyon
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Inside the station
Paris-Gare de Lyon
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19th Century wall painting by
Albert Maignan inside the "Le Train Bleu" restaurant, in the hall of the Paris-Lyon Railway Station.
14.
SNCF
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SNCF is Frances national state-owned railway company and manages the rail traffic in France and the Principality of Monaco. SNCF operates the national rail services, including the TGV. Its functions include operation of services for passengers and freight. SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries around the globe, the railway network consists of about 32,000 km of route, of which 1,800 km are high-speed lines and 14,500 km electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily, since July 2013, SNCF headquarters are located in a Parisian suburb at 2, place aux Étoiles,93200 Saint Denis. In 2010 SNCF was ranked 22nd in France and 214th globally on the Fortune Global 500 list and it is the main business of the SNCF group, which in 2014 employed 245,763 people and had €27.2 billion of sales in 120 countries. The chairman of the SNCF group is Guillaume Pépy, SNCF operates almost all of Frances railway system, including the TGV, In the 1970s, SNCF began the TGV high-speed train programme with the intention of creating the worlds fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981, when the first TGV service, today, SNCF operates 1,850 km of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed services per day. SNCF’s TGV trains carry more than 100 million passengers a year, TGV lines and TGV technology are now spread across several European countries in addition to South Korea.8 km/h. SNCF has a safety record. After nearly 30 years in operation, SNCF’s TGV system has experienced one fatal accident. SNCF also owns the tracks and the stations, since the 1990s, SNCF has been selling railway carriages to regional governments, with the creation of the Train Express Régional brand. SNCF also maintains a broad scope of business that includes work on freight lines, inter-city lines. SNCF experts provide logistics, design, construction, operations and maintenance services, SNCF operates the international ticketing agency, Voyages SNCF. SNCF has employees in 120 countries offering extensive overseas and cross border consulting and those projects include, Israel, Assistance and Training. SNCF International provides assistance to Israel Railways in every area of operations including projects to upgrade the networks general safety regulations. Other assistance and training programmes involve Infrastructure and the Traction Division, SNCF supervised the prime contractor responsible for construction of the Taiwan Railways Administration’s main high-speed rail line. It also trained rail traffic controllers, drivers, and crew members, on behalf of the Government of Taiwan, SNCF managed the high-speed railway Command Control Centre
SNCF
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A high-speed train
TGV Duplex from SNCF
SNCF
SNCF
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A SNCF
Transport Express Régional train
SNCF
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TGV 4402 operation V150 reaching 574 km/h on 3 April 2007 near
Le Chemin, France.
15.
Val de Fontenay (Paris RER)
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The RER station Val de Fontenay is a station in the Paris suburb Fontenay-sous-Bois. It is situated on the Paris–Mulhouse railway and provides an interchange between the RER lines A and E, the station is named for a neighborhood of Fontenay-sous-Bois. It is served by both line A and line E, on the A line, Val de Fontenay is the first station on the branch A4, leading to Marne-la-Vallée and is also the busiest in terms of trains. Val de Fontenay is served by train running on the line. In off-peak hours, there are now 12 trains per hour instead of 6, of those 12 trains going to Marne-la-Vallée,6 are direct between Val de Fontenay and Noisy-le-Grand. This allows a passenger to save 2 minutes between Val de Fontenay and Noisy-le-Grand, as the drops from 7 minutes to 5 minutes without the two stops. Since 30 August 1999 Val de Fontenay is also served by the RER E and this is the branch E4, going between Haussmann - Saint-Lazare and Tournan. Train service on the E line consists of 6 trains per hour during the week in both directions, towards Tournan, there are 4 trains per hour to Villiers-sur-Marne and 2 trains per hour to Tournan. Towards Haussmann - Saint-Lazare, trains coming from Villiers-sur-Marne stop at all stations, while coming from Tournan stop only at Noisy-le-Sec. In the evening, there are 4 trains per hour, alternating between Villiers-sur-Marne and Tournan and stopping at all stations
Val de Fontenay (Paris RER)
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Z22500 entering station en route to Villiers-sur-Marne
Val de Fontenay (Paris RER)
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Station concourse
Val de Fontenay (Paris RER)
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Bus interchange
Val de Fontenay (Paris RER)
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The underground platforms are used for
RER A.
16.
RER E
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The RER E is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving Paris, France. The line runs from the western terminus Haussmann St-Lazare to the eastern terminuses Chelles-Gournay, RER E opened on 12 July 1999 between Haussmann – St-Lazare and Chelles-Gournay. The construction included a 2 km tunnel between Haussmann – St-Lazare and Magenta, the line was first extended with a new branch from Noisy le Sec to Villiers-sur-Marne on 30 August 1999. This branch was extended to Tournan on 14 December 2003, on 13 December 2015, Rosa Parks station opened in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. RER E is to be extended from Haussmann – St-Lazare to La Défense, from where it will take over the branch of RER A to Nanterre, Sartrouville and it would then take over a section of SNCF tracks to reach Mantes-la-Jolie. Partial revenue service is expected to begin in 2018, full service in 2020, an eight kilometre tunnel will be dug between Haussmann – St-Lazare and La Défense. An intermediate station at Porte Maillot will offer a transfer to RER C, the extension is expected to reduce the load on central sections of RER B and RER A by 10-15%. Additionally, transfers will be shifted away from current transfer hub Châtelet, like all the other RER lines, each train is named after the route it takes. The first letter designates the destination, the second whether the train will call at every station or not. T corresponds to Tournan, V corresponds to Villiers-sur-Marne, C corresponds to Chelles — Gournay, regular names of services of trains departing from Paris are, among others, TAVA, VOHE, COHI
RER E
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Train arriving at
Haussmann – St-Lazare on the RER E.
RER E
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Geographically accurate path of the RER E
RER E
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Station
Magenta on the RER E
17.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
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The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
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Regions where French is the main language
French language
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Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
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An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
18.
Sprague-Thomson
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Sprague-Thomson is the name of the first rolling stock on the Paris Métro made completely of metal. In light of the Paris Métro train fire of 1903, the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris searched for a stock that was both durable and safe. The Thomson Multiple stock was the most adopted at the time, at the same time, the American Sprague stock did not fit the requirements. The Sprague-Thomson was conceived in 1908 by the synthesis of already-existing systems, beginning in 1907, the CMP was constructing metallic stock. The motrices 500 formed the first series of Sprague-Thomson, which was referred to familiarly as simply Sprague, the cars were constructed entirely of metal and had two motors. One train set consisted of five cars and three cars, and contained a large compartment of electrical components, referred to as a grande loge. After World War I, the cars were improved so that the electrical components did not take up so much space. Certain grande loge motor cars were regrouped into sets of two in order to work trains with two compartments. These were first painted gray, but later repainted yellow, the arrival of the TMA material in the 1980s and the TME material in the 2000s allowed for many of these motor cars to be retired. A project to convert some MF67 cars running between depots is in progress to replace the Sprague trains that are dedicated to this task. The last Sprague tractors are planned to be replaced by 2010, the T.74, T.91 and T.94 models are preserved by the ADEMAS association and the T.95 model is preserved by the RATP. The Compagnie du Nord-Sud began construction in 1910 of a new type of Sprague and they are painted gray and blue, unlike the dark green color of those of the CMP. Little by little the cars have been elongated, from their length of 12,600 mm to 14,200 mm. Motorcars with four engines were first used in 1927 and are all 14,200 mm long. The color has varied over time, as well as the number of doors, the first class cars are red on the CMP network, and yellow on the Nord-Sud. Some cars are colored green and half red. The classic electric multiple unit trainset contains two motorcars with four each, powering three cars with the middle one being first class. Motorcars with four engines began use in 1936, some being older models reconstructed, in 1956, the installation of bogies with tires on line 11 resulted in the retirement of many Sprague trains, many of which were turned into maintenance trains. The same replacement occurred on line 1 in 1963 and line 4 in 1967, the introduction of the MF67 rolling stock on line 3 in 1968 accelerated the replacement of the Sprague
Sprague-Thomson
–
A Sprague-Thomson train during the Journées du patrimoine in 2006
Sprague-Thomson
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A Sprague-Thomson à
Bastille in 1908
Sprague-Thomson
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First class interior
Sprague-Thomson
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Conductor's cabin
19.
MP 59
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The MP59 is a rubber tired variant of electric multiple units used on Pariss Métro system, and is the oldest type still in regular passenger service. The trains circulated on Line 1 between 1963 and 2000, and Line 4 between 1967 and 2012, today,24 trains operate on Line 11. The decision was made to first convert Line 1, due to it being the busiest line in the system, the decision to also equip Line 4 with rubber tyred stock soon followed. Fifty-two trains were ordered for Line 1 and roughly the same for Line 4, various other mechanical improvements were made. Initially, the trains on Line 1 had only five cars because the stations had not been able to accommodate trains at first. This changed in 1962/63 when the stations were lengthened, which after this time, all of the Line 4 platforms were already expanded prior to the arrival of the MP59 stock and thus were able to accommodate six-car trains when cascading began in 1967. Each train was composed of four cars, one first-class car. The first-class trains were painted in yellow, while the segments were painted in a light-blue livery. Yellow bands could be found across the cars and darker blue bands along the second-class cars. In 1980, the cars were converted into second-class cars. In 1974, eight trains were ordered to improve service frequencies on both Lines 1 and 4, bringing the number of trains on each line to about 50 to 52. There was also a train that was built during this time which contained many technological advances that were later adopted by the MF77. This particular train operated on Line 4 until 1979 and then operated on Line 1 until 1985, the train was then circulated back into service either on Line 1 or Line 4. Between 1986 and 1990, a program ran on one MP59 train that involved the installation of TV screens inside the train. The TVs would show various programs and advertisements, certain stations along Lines 1 and 4 were also temporarily equipped with TV screens for the same experiment. Unfortunately, the program was unsuccessful and the TV monitors were dismantled in 1990. Shortly following, the train was refurbished. Between 1989 and 1992, the MP59 stock was refurbished to prepare the Line 1 trains for the extension to La Defense, most of the Line 4 stock were also refurbished
MP 59
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MP 59 operating on
Paris Métro Line 4.
MP 59
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Renovated interior of MP59.
MP 59
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An MP 59 stock train at Bastille, Line 1, prior to refurbishment. Yellow cars represented 1st class cars, while blue ones represented 2nd class cars.
MP 59
–
MP59 on Line 4
20.
MP 89
–
The MP89 is a rubber tired variant of electric multiple units used on Pariss Métro system. Designed by Roger Tallon, two types are built by GEC Alsthom for service on Line 4 and 14, the trains on Line 1 were moved to Line 4 between 2011 and 2013 to replace the older MP59 trainsets, though only 48 trains are used for revenue service. The remaining four trains are stored either at Montrouge or Saint Ouen as operational spares, in 1988, the RATP possessed a large number of outdated Sprague-Thomson trains, many of which were rapidly approaching 60 and 70 years old. With the MF77 trains in place along Lines 8,9, however, there were still some trains in service along Line 9, which were approaching 80 years old. Those trains were retired in 1983, reducing the average age of rolling stock to 14 years. Anticipating further aging in its stock, the RATP changed its policy regarding replacement of rolling stock to avoid a massive. September 28,1990 marked the approval of the contract to manufacture the MP89 trains by the RATP for an order of 665 cars, with GEC Alsthom being selected as the manufacturer. In 1994, a prototype MP89 CA was built for testing at a facility near the Petite Ceinture, a total of 52 trains for Line 1 and 21 trains for Line 14 were built, totaling 438 cars, fewer than the 665 cars mentioned in the contract. The first MP89 CC trains went into service on Line 1 on March 27,1997 and the MP89 CA trains went into service on Line 14 on October 15,1998. This was to be achieved by the construction of new class of cars for Lines 1 and 14. Two types were designed, the driverless MP89 CA for the automated Line 14, both subclasses are visually similar except for the provision of a drivers cab in the outer end of the MP89 CC cars. The MP89 contains many features that are equipped in both subclasses and these innovative features made the MP89 the first of its kind on the Metro and allowed the RATP to continue to equip its lines with the modernized stock. Among many features, the MP89 is the first class of rolling stock to include the opening and closing of doors. Instead of a passenger having to pull a lever or push a button to open the door in order to enter or exit the train, all of the doors on the platform side open and this is due to the fact that the lines using this material are predominantly underground. This feature was carried on by the MF2000 and MP05 rolling stock, the MP89 is also equipped with an audio and visual automatic system which automatically detects the positioning of the station platform. This detection allows the opening of the train doors on the appropriate side of the platform. The system also allows for the operation of automated station announcements, instead of the conductor having to utilize the intercom to announce station names, the automated system does this automatically. On curved stations, this system is vital due to the gap between the train and the curved platform
MP 89
–
MP 89 CC departing from
Mouton-Duvernet on
Paris Métro Line 4.
MP 89
–
An MP 89 CC train at
Bastille -
Line 1
MP 89
–
An MP 89 CC train at Mairie de Montrouge -
Line 4
MP 89
–
Bogie from an MP 89 Paris Métro rolling stock showing the two
special wheelsets
21.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris
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In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris
Paris
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Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris
–
The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
proposed extension
Bus
Others
Projects
Admin and finance
