Paris Celebrates Historic Grand Paris Express Milestone with 30-Kilometre Metro Line 14 Extension Linking Orly to Saint-Denis

The High-Capacity North-South Spine of the Grand Paris Express

PARIS, Ile-de-France — In the most consequential expansion of the French capital's rapid transit system in modern history, Ile-de-France Mobilites, public transport operator RATP, and the Societe des Grands Projets have officially inaugurated the monumental extension of Paris Metro Line 14. Serving as the foundational north-south structural spine of the multi-billion-euro Grand Paris Express super-metro network, the project extends the fully automated line both northward to Saint-Denis Pleyel and southward to Aeroport d'Orly, transforming it into the longest and busiest subway artery in the Paris metropolitan region.

Spanning 30 route-kilometres across 21 passenger stations, the extended Line 14 fundamentally reshapes suburban mobility across Greater Paris. Commuters can now complete the entire end-to-end journey from Saint-Denis Pleyel in the northern Seine-Saint-Denis department down to Orly Airport in Val-de-Marne in just 40 minutes, while passengers arriving at Paris Orly Airport can reach the central historic hub of Chatelet in an astonishing 25 minutes—cutting prior commuter transit times by more than half.

Eight Monumental Stations and Landmark Architectural Gateway at Saint-Denis Pleyel

The project delivers eight brand-new, architecturally bespoke stations: the northern terminus at Saint-Denis Pleyel, alongside seven southern stations comprising Maison Blanche, Hopital Bicetre, Villejuif – Gustave Roussy (serving Europe's foremost cancer research campus), L'Hay-les-Roses, Chevilly-Larue, Thiais – Orly, and the southern air-rail terminus at Aeroport d'Orly.

Designed by world-acclaimed architect Kengo Kuma, the flagship Saint-Denis Pleyel station rises as a breathtaking multi-level transport cathedral featuring cascading timber louvers, natural daylight atriums, and vast subterranean mezzanines. Engineered to process over 250,000 travelers daily, Saint-Denis Pleyel seamlessly interconnects Line 14 with RER D, suburban bus networks, and future Grand Paris Express orbital Lines 15, 16, and 17, providing direct rapid access to the Stade de France and the Olympic Aquatics Centre.

Next-Generation MP 14 Driverless Fleet and Environmental Decarbonization

The expanded line operates exclusively with state-of-the-art MP 14 rubber-tired electric trainsets manufactured by Alstom. Measuring 120 metres in length across eight walk-through cars—the longest metro trains in France—each trainset accommodates up to 1,000 passengers. Governed by sophisticated Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC / SAET) automation, the line achieves peak headway frequencies of just 85 seconds, giving it an unprecedented carrying capacity of up to 1 million passengers per day.

Regional leaders and transport ministers emphasized that Line 14 delivers a profound environmental triumph, dramatically relieving overcrowding on parallel RER B and RER D rail trunks while diverting an estimated 50,000 automobile trips from congested southern A6 and northern A1 motorway corridors every weekday. Powered 100 percent by clean electricity and integrating regenerative braking that feeds power back into station facilities, Paris Metro Line 14 establishes a premier global gold standard for low-carbon, automated urban mass transit.