Flying over a motorway, a railway line and a park to school, work or the station at a height of over 50 metres? This will soon be a reality between Créteil and Limeil-Brévannes in the south-east of Paris. With the construction of the first urban cable car in the entire Paris conurbation (Île-de-France), from 2025 commuters will be able to enjoy a new means of transport that most people are more familiar with from winter or summer holidays in the mountains: the cable car. Naturally, the urban cable car is very modern and adapted to the requirements of urban public transport. In addition to being painted in the colours of IdF-Mobilités (the responsible public transport authority), the cabins are characterised by comfortable seats, passenger information, infotainment, CCTV and safety functions. Let’s take a look at the planning and realisation of the project.
The route and urban implementation
The 4.5 km route runs from the current Créteil terminus of metro line 8 in a southerly direction, providing access to both already populated neighbourhoods and those in the process of being built, such as Zac Pologne in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges or Joliot-Curie in Valenton. It serves five stations (Pointe du lac, Limeil-Brévannes, Valenton, La Végétale, Vila Nova), where passengers can change to local bus feeder lines. The distance between bus stops is between 0.5 and 1.8 kilometres.
The biggest challenge of this first cable car in Île-de-France was to span and simultaneously connect the city districts, which are criss-crossed by railway lines, national roads, a green belt and residential and industrial areas.
On the first section, the 110 m wide SNCF marshalling yard at Valenton is flown over. In order to stretch the suspension cable over the tracks, which are electrified with a 25 kV 50 Hz overhead line, an elaborate crane construction was erected on both sides of the goods yard, which approached from both sides.
In addition, a high-voltage power line of the RTE (Réseau de Transport d’Électricité) is crossed (under the line) and a park and an alcohol distillery are ‘flown over’ along the route. Each element had to be analysed and planned from a technical and safety point of view. Safety distances must be observed and, in the case of the distillery, appropriate expertises must be drawn up due to the fire risk.
The following video presents the route:
As part of the route planning, the aim was also to minimise the number of trees to be felled. In addition, 500 new trees were planted during construction.
Thanks to the environmentally friendly nature of the installation, the cable car was awarded the French quality seal ‘HQE’ (Haute Qualité Environnementale), which recognises particularly resource- and environmentally friendly buildings.
At the southern terminus in Vila Nova, the line crosses a field. During the planning and construction of the cable car route, particular care was taken to ensure that the agricultural use of the field was not restricted and that the view for local residents was not impaired.
Infrastructure and technology
The planners, manufacturers and operators are particularly proud of the fact that all five stations can be reached at ground level. This simplifies access for all passengers, especially for people with reduced mobility, families with pushchairs and commuters with luggage. As a result, lifts have been completely dispensed with. A new transition bridge to the metro was built in Créteil.
The cable car has a total of 105 cabins with a transport capacity of 10 people per cabin. The interior has a modular design and can be flexibly customised to suit requirements. There is also space for wheelchair users and pushchairs. The number of cabins can be increased to up to 130 at a later date. The transport capacity is 2,000 passengers per hour in each direction – up to 11,000 passengers per day. The aim is to achieve a frequency of 23 seconds, i.e. just under half a minute. The journey time will be 18 minutes.
Along the routes, 30 masts were installed, each 150 metres apart.
Design and architecture
Shapes and colours have played a very important role in French public transport for decades – and the C1 cable car line is no exception. For better urban compatibility, the masts were designed as ‘wings’ split at the top, which are illuminated at night, giving them a dynamic appearance.
The local population was even allowed to have a say in the selection of the exterior design of the cabins. At the beginning of 2022, a public survey was launched in which interested citizens were allowed to choose a design. ‘Design 3’ was selected from the paint finish options presented, which is also known as “Smiley” due to its colour scheme.
In addition to accessibility, the cable car stations are characterised by bright rooms and compatible urban integration. The roofs are equipped with photovoltaic systems. The energy generated is used to power the electrical systems.
Planning, construction and operation
As is usual with other public transport projects such as tram and metro lines, detailed preliminary planning with the resulting ‘Deklaration d’Utilité Publique’ and public participation of the population was necessary.
Initial feasibility studies began between 2008 and 2013, and the preliminary design (DOCP, Objectifs et de Caractéristiques Principales) lasted from 2014 and was finalised in 2016. Following further detailed planning from 2016 to 2018, the project was approved by the Ile de France Board in July 2018.
The following list gives a detailed overview of the project history so far:
- 2008 – 2013: Initial feasibility studies
- 2014 – 2016: Preliminary planning to determine the information required for the public consultation (‘consultation publique’) on the route and stations
- September – October 2016: public consultation (‘consultation publique’)
- 2016 – 2018: Detailed planning
- 2019: Public enquiry and declaration of public utility (‘déclaration d’utilité publique’)
- 2021: Award of the overall service contract for the planning-realisation-maintenance of the C1 / completion of the preliminary design studies (AVP) to ‘Doppel France’, the French subsidiary of Doppelmayr
- 2022: Study on the organisation of construction work / start of preliminary work (rerouting of electricity, water and gas lines)
- 2023 – 2024: Infrastructure work: Construction of the cable car, stations and their facilities
- 2025: Opening
Construction work began in May 2023, the first support was installed in October 2023 and the cable unwinding began in summer 2024. The last support was built in September 2024.
Due to the weight of the rope (10 kg/metre and a diameter of 5 cm), the unwinding process takes place in several steps, whereby several ropes are unwound one after the other with increasingly larger diameters until the final rope is obtained. A thicker rope always replaces a thinner one until the final rope is stretched. This process is completed with the so-called ‘splicing’, which involves joining the two ends of the rope.
The rope itself consists of metal wires (‘strands’) that are interwoven with black plastic profiles. This design makes the rope almost smooth, drastically reducing vibrations and noise from passing cabins and making the rope more robust.
The planning, realisation and maintenance of Cable C1 was carried out by the consortium Doppelmayr France / Spie Batignolles / France Travaux / Egis Rail / Atelier Schall under the auspices of Île-De-France Mobilités. The 132 million project is being financed 49% by the Ile-de-France region, 30% by the Val de Marne department and 21% by the state. Transdev, which already has experience in operating urban cable cars, has been commissioned to operate line C1.
We can now look forward to the opening in 2025 and hope that other conurbations in France and Europe will also introduce funicular railways into the public transport landscape. There are also numerous other corridors in Île-de-France that are suitable for the introduction of funiculars.
15.10.2024
