The
Transilien is the brand name for suburban railway services of the
SNCFThe SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
-owned railway network operating within the
Île-de-France régionÎle-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
. "Transilien" is a derivative of "Francilien", a term commonly used to describe the inhabitants of the Île-de-France.
Transilien trains depart from Paris' main railway and
RERThe RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...
stations (although many city-centre
RERThe RER is a rapid transit system in France serving Paris and its suburbs. The RER is an integration of a modern city-centre underground rail and a pre-existing set of commuter rail lines. It has several connections with the Paris Métro within the city of Paris. Within the city, the RER...
stations are run by the RATP) and the western business district of
La DéfenseLa Défense is a major business district of the Paris aire urbaine. With a population of 20,000, it is centered in an orbital motorway straddling the Hauts-de-Seine département municipalities of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux...
. Transilien services transported 615 million passengers in 2004.
History
The first line to the suburbs of
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
was opened on the 26 August 1837. The route went from
Paris-Saint-LazareParis Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest in Paris, behind the Gare du Nord, handling 274,000 passengers each day.-History:...
to
Le PecqLe Pecq is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center.-Geography:...
. The railway link was thought of as key to the western suburbs. On 1 October 1972, the line was handed over to the RER, and commenced service as the
RER's ligne AThe RER A is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving :Paris, France.The line runs from the western terminuses Saint-Germain-en-Laye , Cergy Le Haut , and Poissy to the eastern terminuses Boissy-Saint-Léger and Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy .* First inauguration: 12 December 1969*...
.
The Transilien today
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 then divided into branches which, similarly to the RER, are given letters, although until 2005, these letters were unknown to the wider travelling public.
The six Transilien entities are:
- Transilien P, Paris Est
- Transilien H and K, Paris Nord
- Transilien J and L, Paris Saint-Lazare
- Transilien U, Paris La Défense
- Transilien N, Paris Montparnasse
- Transilien R, Paris Lyon
The system is slightly complicated, in that for each different entity, structures are very different. Key complications include:
- The power supplies
- The numbers of branches
- The lack of onward transportation beyond the termini
- Density of trains on the network
- The mix of traffic on the railway including express trains, freight trains, long distance trains, Transilien trains and RER traffic.
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, decide not to go into work causing a huge financial burden for companies.
The extent of the lines means that concentric zoning is used. Trains bound for the outer zones are normally operated as express trains, meaning trains serve Paris termini then operate non-stop to the outer zones, meaning less travel time.
Rolling stock
The
rolling stockRolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
used on the Transilien comes from a long evolution of the material in the suburbs.
January 16, 2002, during a ceremony at the
Gare de Paris-Estis one of the six large SNCF termini in Paris. It is in the 10th arrondissement, not far from the Gare du Nord, facing the Boulevard de Strasbourg, part of the north-south axis of Paris created by Baron Haussmann...
, the President of the
SNCFThe SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
Louis GalloisLouis René Fernand Gallois is a French businessman and currently the CEO of EADS.-Education:...
, the Prefect of the
Ile-de-FranceÎle-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....
Jean-Pierre Duport and the Regional Chair
Jean-Paul HuchonJean-Paul Huchon is a civil administrator and French politician. Mayor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine from 1994 to 2001, he is the President of the regional council for Île-de-France since 1998.- Biography :...
, presented the new liveries of Transilien.
The
designDesign as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
used for the rehabilitation and rejuvenation of the park was conducted by two outside agencies under contracts awarded in October 2000.
RCP Design GlobalRCP Design Global or RCP is an independent design agency based in Tours and Paris fonded by Régine Charvet-Pello in . RCP is predominantly based in the transport and mobility design, and specialises in urban transport, High-speed rail, interiors, public spaces and street furniture...
assured exterior design and interior signage, and
Avant Première of the interior. All vehicles received a new blue and gray Transilien with panels of color to highlight doors and internal characteristics. Everything was treated with a
graffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
resistant coating to reduce the impact of
vandalismVandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
. The
trainA train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s are equipped with a new ergonomic design of
seatA seat is place to sit, often referring to the area one sits upon as opposed to other elements like armrests.- Types of seat :The following are examples of different kinds of seat:* Airline seat, for passengers in an aircraft...
ing with individual seats instead of the traditional banks. They are covered with vandal-resistant fabric in blue, yellow and red. Circulation and inter-car doors have been modified to improve the distribution of passengers in trains
"Paris Montparnasse" lines
The trains on this line operate from
Gare MontparnasseParis Montparnasse is one of the six large terminus railway stations of Paris, located in the Montparnasse area in the XIVe arrondissement. The station was opened in 1840, and rebuilt completely in 1969...
along the following routes:
- Transilien N
- Paris Montparnasse - Mantes-la-Jolie via Plaisir-Grignon
- Paris Montparnasse - Houdan - Dreux (first stop Versailles-Chantiers, then Plaisir-Grignon and then all stations to Dreux)
- Paris Montparnasse - Rambouillet
"Paris Lyon" lines
The trains on this line operate from
Gare de LyonParis Lyon is one of the six large railway termini in Paris, France. 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, most en route to the south of France. In general the station's SNCF services run...
along the following routes :
- Transilien R
- Paris Lyon - Montereau via Moret-Veneux-les-Sablons
- Paris Lyon - Souppes-Château-Landon - Montargis
- Melun - Montereau via Héricy
"Paris Nord" lines
The trains on this line operate from
Gare du NordParis Nord is one of the six large terminus railway stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, including Paris Métro and RER...
along the following routes:
- Transilien K
- Gare du Nord - Dammartin Juilly Saint-Mard - Crépy-en-Valois
- Transilien H
- Gare du Nord - Luzarches
- Gare du Nord - Persan-Beaumont via Montsoult-Maffliers (Eastern branch) or via Ermont-Eaubonne (Western Branch)
- Gare du Nord - Pontoise - Persan-Beaumont - Bruyères-sur-Oise - Creil
"Paris Est" lines
The trains on this line operate from
Gare de l'Estis one of the six large SNCF termini in Paris. It is in the 10th arrondissement, not far from the Gare du Nord, facing the Boulevard de Strasbourg, part of the north-south axis of Paris created by Baron Haussmann...
along the following routes:
- Transilien P North
- Paris Est - Meaux
- Paris Est - Crouy-sur-Ourcq - La Ferté-Milon
- Paris Est - Nanteuil-Saâcy - Château-Thierry
- Paris Est - Esbly - Crécy-la-Chapelle
- Transilien P South
- Paris Est - Longueville - Provins
- Paris Est - Coulommiers
- Paris Est - La Ferté-Gaucher
"Paris Saint-Lazare" lines
The trains on this line operate from
Gare Saint-LazareParis Saint-Lazare is one of the six large terminus train stations of Paris. It is the second busiest in Paris, behind the Gare du Nord, handling 274,000 passengers each day.-History:...
along the following routes:
- Transilien J North
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Cormeilles-en-Parisis
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Pontoise
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Chars - Gisors
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Mantes-la-Jolie par Conflans
- Transilien J South
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Poissy - Mantes-la-Jolie
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Port-Villez - Vernon
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Bréval - Évreux (via Mantes-la Jolie)
- Transilien L North
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Cergy-le-Haut
- Transilien L South
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Saint-Cloud
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Versailles Rive Droite
- Paris Saint-Lazare - Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche
- Saint-Germain-en-Laye - Grande ceinture
The Grande Ceinture line is a railway line round Paris 15 km from the Boulevard Périphérique. The decision to build it was taken at the end of the 19th century, to connect the radial lines linking the capital to the provinces and to relieve the existing Ligne de Petite...
- Noisy-le-Roi
"La Défense - La Verrière" lineTransilien La Défense is one of the sectors in the Paris Transilien suburban rail network. The trains on this sector depart from La Défense station in Paris's business district of La Défense. Transilien service from La Défense is part of the SNCF Saint-Lazare rail network. Service consists of one...
The trains on this line operate from La Défense station along the following route:
External links