When you look up from a metro journey on line 1, you may have noticed that the ceiling of your carriage is decorated in a rather strange way. Indeed, the ceiling is not uniform, and on closer inspection, you can make out first names written along the entire length of the train. Claude, Delphine, Diego, Line, Urbain, Mickaël, Isaac, Audrey, Manuella, Maurice, Hans, Ali, Nina... But who do all these names belong to?
Names of different origins, associated with different generations... But what do all these names have in common? No need to preserve the mystery any longer: according to a tweet from the official Line 1 account, dating from 2018, these first names are those of the people who worked onautomating the metroline!
The first automated trains went into service on line 1 of the Paris metro in 2011. This transformation required years of work, in-depth renovation of the stations and the creation of special trains. A long and costly project, but one that is now serving as an example: RATP has fully automated lines 14 and 4, and plans to transform lines 13, 7 and 8 in the coming years.
Will the next metro lines also be decorated in tribute to their builders? While we wait to discover the future lines 15, 16, 17 and 18, everyone is free to imagine what these Grand Paris Express lines will look like.
