The Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture (French for "little belt railway") was a Parisian railway that, from 1852, was a circular connection between Paris' main railroad stations within the fortified walls of the city. In a partial state of abandonment since 1934, the tracks and some stations still remain along much of its right-of-way, and the future of its yet-undeveloped property is the subject of much debate today. Many French railway enthusiasts look nostalgically to the Petite Ceinture as a surviving element of bygone era, and there are several associations whose aim is to protect the abandoned railway and its remaining stations as part of the national heritage.
Contents |
Paris' "Chemin de Fer de Ceinture" was military in its origins. A lack of protection around France's principal cities was largely blamed for France's defeat by the Prussian armies in the 1814-1815 wars, and rail transport, a recent invention then, was held in high esteem by France's military for its ability to quickly transport troops and material between all points of the country. Paris' future circular railway was a meeting of these ideals.
Paris was only half its present size when France's government adopted Prime Minister Adolphe Thiers' project for a ring of fortifications and forts around Paris on the 1st of February 1841. Echoing the path of the city's 1784 Fermiers-Généraux tax wall (following almost exactly today's Metro lines 6 and 2), the fortifications created a second, larger and better fortified ring of protection around the city. At the time of its construction, the land between the two walls, excepting a strip of noisy tax-free-territory bars and cabarets just outside the city gates, remained a quiet landscape marred by few constructions.
Rail transportation was developing in many regions of France then, but in 1848 the government, then under the Bourbon King Louis-Philippe's rule, decided to direct all future rail development towards their centralist goals. Paris from that year became the centre and meeting place of all France's railways, in a "star-shaped" railway plan that would radiate from the capital to different regions and borders of France.
The year 1848 was also a year of revolution in France and throughout Europe: the Second Republic, which succeeded the Bourbon regime found that it could not afford to finance the former government's railway plans. Despite the regime change, both rail transport and Paris' fortifications remained pressing matters to France's generals: it was essential to them that rail transport provide logistical support to Paris' Fortifications wall and its several surrounding fortresses for the efficient movement of troops, supplies, arms and ammunition.
In 1848 Paris had five major stations run by five railway companies: Paris-Rouen (later Ouest, near today's gare Saint-Lazare, Nord (at today's gare du Nord), Paris-Strasbourg (later Est, at today's gare de l'Est), Paris-Lyon (at today's gare de Lyon) and Paris-Orléans (at today's gare d'Austerlitz). Each company served routes extending to different, but never intersecting, points in France. All were persuaded that a direct connection to a competing line would endanger their regional monopolies. This situation made interchange between the companies and neighboring regions long and onerous. Both freight and passengers had to travel via the congestion of the Capital. In some cases they had to travel significant distances simply to transfer between competing lines. The divided regional monopolies of France's railway network were especially frustrating for the military, as they sought the speed and efficiency of rail service to get troops and supplies quickly between all points of France.
Even at that early stage of France's railway development, the government had been courting the rail companies for their participation in a plan to build a circular railway inside of Paris' Fortifications. Unfortunately, all the short-lived 2nd Republic managed to do before its demise - through coercion and even blackmail - was to motivate the private companies to make mergers and private junction deals among themselves.
Napoleon III's rise to power on the 2nd of December 1851 ushered in a new government with more grandiose visions for France's railway future. In an effort to accelerate France's rail development to a pace closer to that of the rest of western Europe, the new government renewed many of France's railway concession offers on new and more financially advantageous terms. Paris' circular railway was one of these deals, and the government had obtained concession agreements from the Rouen, Nord, Strasbourg, Orléans (bankrupt, but represented by the State) and Lyon companies by the 10th of December the same year.
The plan was to connect all of Paris' main stations through a railway running from the Rouen company lines (north of today's Gare St-Lazare) to the Orléans company's "gare d'Ivry" freight yards (near today's Gare d'Austerlitz). As the concession stipulated that all of Paris' stations be connected, a solution had to be found for the only station that wouldn't have lines intersecting the Ceinture's initial path - the Ouest (ancien)'s "Paris à Versailles Rive Gauche" station (near today's Gare Montparnasse). This was done through a junction with the "Paris à Versailles Rive Droite" line (from today's St-Lazare station) where they met to the south-west of the city near the town of Viroflay.
The Ceinture concession agreement stated that the government would finance the earthmoving, bridges and rails for the line. All would be placed at the disposal of the private companies for a period of 99 years, instead of the former government's 45-year offer. This period would date from the completion of the new line. As for the private companies, they would contribute 1 000 000 francs each, build the stations, provide motive power and rolling stock, and cover the operating expenses. The delay for the railway's completion was set at two years, at which time the new line was to be ready to accommodate freight and passenger traffic. Although the State financed construction of the line, management was confided exclusively to a private syndicate composed of two seated members from each company: this was the "Syndicat de Chemin de fer de Ceinture."
Because of an earlier deal (until then forbidden by the government as an almost blackmail against Ceinture contract negotiations), the interchange connections began with a direct connection between the Nord and Strasbourg (Est) route stations completed in April 1852; this arc of rail was private and would only later be connected to the Ceinture line. The first length of Ceinture rail, between Rouen's 'Batignolles' and Nord's 'La Chapelle' freightyards, was inaugurated on the 12th of December 1852. A second section between Pont du Nord (La Chapelle) and Aubervilliers, a point where the Nord-Strasbourg private junction joined the Ceinture railway, was delivered on the 30th of September 1853. From then trains could circulate freely between the Batignolles, La Chapelle and (Strasbourg's) La Villette freight yards.
The contract for the line between Pont du Nord and La Chapelle was given to the Est company in November 1853, and by the 25th March 1854 the line was completed from La Chapelle to Ivry. Extensive work beginning then on other parts of the line were a large viaduct of more than 700m long near Pont de Flandre, and tunnels measuring 1000m each had to be dug under the hills of Belleville and Charonne. In 1855, new freight yards were opened at Charonne and La Villette.
See La Ligne d'Auteuil.
As the Chemin de fer de Ceinture fulfilled the State's goal of uniting all France's railways in the Capital, the Pereire-owned ‘Ouest company's 1852 demand for a concession for a railway to the inside of the fortifactions around the western rim of the city was treated as a project in itself in its first years, although the government saw it as an addition to its plain to create a full ring of railway around Paris. Joining the Rouen (St.-Lazare) station and its terminus in the still-suburban bourgeoise town of Auteuil to the City's south-west, this purely passenger traffic was created mainly as a means for Paris' better classes to travel to their country homes.
Contrary to the Chemin de fer de Ceinture, the "Paris à Auteuil" line was a line designed for passenger service only. In an effort to avoid any impedement to Paris' traffic circulation, it was built into a trench for most of its 9,500-metre length, necessitating the construction of fourteen bridges. Excepting its rue St-Lazare embarcadère (the 'head' station also serving the Ouest company's other lines), the line had a total of five stations: Pont-Cardinet (an SNCF station today), Courcelles (today's "Pereire - Levallois" RER C station), Neuilly-Porte Maillot, Avenue de l'Impératrice (Avenue Foch), Passy (Avenue Henri-Martin) and Auteuil (unused by any rail service today). The Paris-Auteuil passenger line was inaugurated on the 5th of June 1854, and began service from the second of May the same year.
With the termination of the Paris à Auteuil line, Paris had railway running to the inside of its fortifications around the Right Bank three quarters of the city, but at that time no company saw any commercial interest in constructing the "closing" Left Bank link of rail that would make the railway a true "belt" around Paris, especially since all of Paris' raiway stations were already connected between themselves with the existing Chemin de fer de Ceinture.
Only the Ouest company agreed to undertake, alone, a concession for the construction of the Ceinture Rive Gauche, most likely because they were the only company serving Paris' Versailles Rive Gauche (Montparnasse) station. Not only was the Ouest company to assure a service around the Rive Gauche rim of Paris, but they were to manage a connection between the Chemin de fer de Ceinture and the Paris à Auteuil line and build a temporary railway antenna in time for the 1867 Universal Exposition.
Construction ended on 27 February 1867. The last portion of track the linking line from Javel to Champs de Mars just in time for the 1867 Exposition Universelle. The petite Ceinture was looped on 25 March 1869 with the opening of the line between Courcelles and Clichy, the line was built under the St Lazare main line. On time for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, many level crossings were removed. The last extension of the petite Ceinture was the junction line from Champs de Mars to Passy for the 1900 Exposition Universelle. Little by Little, traffic would diminish, until the lines closed, on 1924 on the Champs de Mars branch and on 1934 for the PC (petite Ceinture). Only the Ligne d'Auteuil which was electrified in 1925 would remain open.
The Petite Ceinture is largely unused. The last portion to be in regular use was the Ligne d'Auteuil up until 1985. The interconnection between Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est was in use up until the 2000s but has now seen use fall dramatically. Passenger and freight rail services from both stations are hauled by engines from the SNCF depots at La Chapelle and Pantin and seldom exchange rolling stock. The Grande Ceinture is currently used to swap stock and as a diversion line.
Projects were afoot to use parts of the Petite Ceinture as a tramway, now called Line 3, but the Boulevard des Maréchaux, a ring of boulevards encircling Paris has been used instead for the line opened on 16 December 2006.
The Ligne d'Auteuil closed in 1985 to make way for the newly opened RER C. The RER C has been extended to Montigny-Beauchamp and Argenteuil after the construction of a new tunnel crossing Paris North West. The line branches off at Champ de Mars, crosses the river Seine. From there the line is underground, indeed the Ligne d'Auteuil was covered in 1988 and the line between Henri Martin and Courcelles was reduced from 4 tracks down to 2. The line exits Paris in a tunnel that ends in Clichy.
   | J.M. Schomburg - J.M. SCHOMBURG - Quelques Travaux |
| | Information about current events and construction related to the Petite Ceinture - Site de l'Association Sauvegarde Petite Ceinture (ASPCRF) |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search