Gare de la Bastille

Coordinates: 48°51′9″N 2°22′13″E / 48.85250°N 2.37028°E / 48.85250; 2.37028
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Bastille (disambiguation).

Gare de la Bastille
Heavy rail
La Bastille Station in Paris, early 20th century
General information
LocationPlace de la Bastille, Paris
Coordinates48°51′9″N 2°22′13″E / 48.85250°N 2.37028°E / 48.85250; 2.37028
Owned byChemins de fer de l'Est (1859–1938)
SNCF (1938–1969)
Line(s)Ligne de Vincennes
Tracks5
History
Opened22 September 1859
Closed15 December 1969

The Gare de la Bastille was a railway station on the

La Varenne and later to Brie-Comte-Robert. The line finally reached Verneuil-l'Étang in 1892 and connected to the line to Mulhouse. Part of the line was included into the new suburban commuter rail line RER A on 14 December 1969. The station was demolished in 1984 so that the Opéra Bastille
could be built.

History

Designed by

Gare de Paris-Est), but the Ligne de Vincennes would also create a new terminus close to the centre of Paris, the Gare de la Bastille. In 1853, the company, now known as the Chemins de fer de l'Est (CF de l'Est), opened the 17-kilometre (11 mi)-long line between Vincennes and La Varenne. The extension to Paris opened on 22 September 1859.[2] and the line was soon carrying 6,000,000 passengers each year.[3]

La Bastille station in the 1980s

In 1871, following the end of the

Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. This drastically reduced the territory served by the CF de l'Est. As a result, the Gare de l'Est was developed to become the CF de l'Est's main station in Paris. Although the Gare de la Bastille was only a local terminus, by 1889 it was the second busiest in Paris, handling 12,000,000 passengers per annum. The Ligne de Vincennes was extended to Verneuil-l'Étang in 1892, making it 55 kilometres (34 mi) long. The station served commuters during the week, and Parisians escaping to the country on weekends. By the 1920s, the Gare de la Bastille was handling 30,000,000 passengers each year. Electric traversers were installed to allow longer trains to be handled.[3]

Along with the

Second World War. In 1945, the Gare de la Bastille became for a few months what it had originally been intended to be, a main line terminus or Gare des Grande Lignes. This followed the wartime destruction of a viaduct at Nogent-sur-Marne that had cut the main line from the Gare de l'Est to Mulhouse so long-distance trains were diverted to Bastille. In 1953, the Ligne de Vincennes closed to passengers beyond Boissy-Saint-Léger.[3]

Viaduc des Arts

In the mid-1960s, construction of the

Promenade plantée, whilst the arches now form the Viaduc des Arts, located alongside the Avenue de Daumesnil.[3]

Services

Mantes-sur-Seine
, "Bidel" carriages in use

When the station opened in 1859, services were provided by

2-8-2T locomotives worked the line.[3]

Early passenger carriages were of a double-deck type known as "Imperials". From the 1890s, these were replaced by another double-deck type known as "Bidels". Trains usually included a

Musée Français du Chemin de Fer in Mulhouse. After the end of the Second World War, bogie carriages previously in service with the Deutsche Reichsbahn were used. These were known by the French as "Bastilles". Following the electrification of the line serving the Gare de l'Est in the early 1960s, push–pull stock replaced the "Bastilles". They were used until the line closed in 1969.[3]

The Gare de la Bastille was, except possibly in its earliest days, an almost purely passenger station. Parcels and post were handled but almost the only freight was coal for the three-road engine shed. General freight was handled at a goods station located at the other end of the viaduct at Reuilly but the Gare de la Bastille did handle one rather unusual traffic. Following devastation by phylloxera and increased competition from wine shipped in by rail, vineyards that had traditionally supplied Paris in the area served by the outer rural section of the Ligne de Vincennes switched to growing roses. A Train des Roses was introduced as early as 1897, arriving at the Gare de la Bastille in the early hours. The roses were sold in the markets at Les Halles. Traffic peaked at over 1,000,000 roses per night.[3]

By the

First World War, there were 45 arrivals and departures daily. Eight trains a day ran the full length of the line to Verneuil-l'Etang, with stations closer to Paris receiving a more frequent service than those further away. Between 1925 and 1930, there were about 70 arrivals and departures daily; these had been cut to 48 by 1938.[5]

References

Gare de la Bastille is located in Paris
Gare de la Bastille
Gare de la Bastille
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Location of Gare de la Bastille in Paris
  1. ^ a b "Attention le 14 décembre 1969 fermeture de cette gare…" (in French). AJECTA. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  2. ^ "La gare Bastille – Vincennes – Paris 12e". Paris 1900. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  3. ^
    ISSN 0955-1298
    .
  4. ^ "141 TB 407: Une abonnée aux anniversaires…" (in French). AJECTA. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  5. ISSN 0955-1298
    .

Further reading

External links

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