Ligne de Sceaux
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
running from Paris
Paris
Paris 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...
to some of its southern suburbs, including Sceaux
Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine
Sceaux is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Wealth:Sceaux is famous for the Château of Sceaux, set in its large park , designed by André Le Nôtre, measuring...
from which it takes its name. It is now part of the RATP's RER
RER
The 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...
line B
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 ....
, though the name is still used informally.
The line originally opened in 1846, built under the supervision of chief engineer Jean-Claude Arnoux. It ran from a Paris terminal near the present-day metro station of Denfert Rochereau
Denfert-Rochereau (Paris Metro and RER)
Denfert-Rochereau is a station on the Paris Métro and RER systems, in France.The RER station was previously a terminus of the Ligne de Sceaux, a surface suburban railway. It was rebuilt as an underground station, though the original station building survives and has been restored...
through Bourg-la-Reine
Bourg-la-Reine
Bourg-la-Reine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The inhabitants are called Réginaburgiens. The town is twinned with Kenilworth, UK.-History:...
- where a branch to Robinson
Le Plessis-Robinson
Le Plessis-Robinson is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-History:Plessis was first mentioned in 839 located next to Châtenay .Plessiacus became Plessis-Raoul in 1250....
via Sceaux
Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine
Sceaux is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Wealth:Sceaux is famous for the Château of Sceaux, set in its large park , designed by André Le Nôtre, measuring...
(actually the original main line of 1846) originates - Massy Palaiseau
Massy – Palaiseau (Paris RER)
Massy - Palaiseau is an RER station, located in the city of Massy, with a junction of the RER B and RER C . It's a station in this southern outer suburb of Paris, with a connection with the TGV station, called Gare de Massy TGV....
(present-day TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
connection), and Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is the southernmost station and endpoint of the RER B line.-References:**...
to Limours
Limours
Limours is a commune the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.Inhabitants of Limours are known as Limouriens.-References:** -External links:* * *...
. Plans to extend it to Chartres
Chartres
Chartres is a commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is located southwest of Paris.-Geography:Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country...
never bore fruit, as competing lines made the project superfluous.
It was originally built with very tight bends in the area around Sceaux: Arnoux had devised a new articulation
Articulated vehicle
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivoting joint in its construction, allowing the vehicle to turn more sharply. There are many kinds of articulated vehicles, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains...
system that allowed train wheels to turn, the "système ferroviaire dit Arnoux", and the line was to test his prototypes. Shortly after opening, the bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
was invented in the USA, rendering Arnoux's system pointlessly complicated. The section of track from Bourg-La-Reine to Sceaux was rebuilt to the current terminus of Robinson.
For much of its history, the line operated in splendid isolation from other railways. Most notably, the line was extended from its original Denfert terminus further into Paris to a terminus station built underground at Luxembourg
Luxembourg (Paris RER)
Luxembourg is an RER station in Paris, France. It is situated on the border of 5th and 6th arrondissement of Paris.The terminus of the Ligne de Sceaux was opened on the same site in 1895...
between 1889 and 1895. Perhaps because of this deep penetration into the city center, the line was acquired by the Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris (CMP) (see Paris Metro
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...
) in 1937.
The CMP immediately proceeded to upgrade its new property, electrifying it with an overhead
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
system down to Saint Rémy-les-Chevreuse in 1938. The outlying section to Limours, where traffic was minimal, was never electrified and closed to passengers on May 15, 1939. From this time on it was generally considered as a metro line, even though it ran on different gauge
Rail gauge
Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
and with different rolling stock. Maps of the metro network show it along with the numbered lines with an 'S'.
The line was operated as a separate division of the CMP and its descendant RATP, with dedicated rolling stock (other CMP lines used third-rail electrification), until 1977, when it was incorporated into the RER
RER
The 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...
as the southern part of its new line B.
External links
Histoire du RER, the RER history.La ligne de Sceaux oubliée : a brief history of "la ligne de Sceaux", both the main section and the abandoned one from Gare de Saint-Rémy-lès-ChevreuseSaint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is the southernmost station and endpoint of the RER B line.-References:**...
to Limours
Limours
Limours is a commune the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.Inhabitants of Limours are known as Limouriens.-References:** -External links:* * *...
.