Over the past few days, Marx Dormoy station on line 12 has been revealing vestiges of a bygone era. And it's not the only metro station in Paris with unusual or surprising secrets. For example, an underground station on line 11 is higher than an overhead station on line 6!
Located on line 11, it's at the top of the Belleville hill, which despite its incredible depth to reach the tracks, makes it higher than the overhead stations. It stands at 128 meters, with the rail level at 96 meters, a height so great that until 2009, seats were installed between the many staircases, so that users could catch their breath if need be. These seats can still be found at Buttes Chaumont and Pré-Saint-Gervais stations on line 7 bis, which are also very deep. These stations boast the longest escalators in the RATP network!
Although the Télégraphe station is six feet underground, it's still a few meters short of the station that provides access to the Montmartre hilltop and its famous Sacré-Coeur. To reach Abbesses, on line 12, you have to go 36 meters underground, because of the difference in level on the surface. So much so that the elevators on the platforms are taken by storm, to avoid climbing the spiral staircase with its 176 steps. Lamarck-Caulaincourt and Cité stations are not far behind, with a depth of 25 meters.
Some stations don't see many Parisians... and that's the case at Eglise d'Auteuil, on line 10, one of the network's least frequented. Only 25 people enter every hour! However, this can be explained by its status as a half-station, as it is enclosed in the heart of a loop, where subways can only come from one side. As a result, passenger numbers are easily half those of other stations.
