A new cable car line is all set to be added to the urban transportation system in Paris to ease commuting around various suburbs in the French capital.
Called Cable 1, the cable car system will run from Créteil to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges in the south-eastern part of the city via Limeil-Brévannes and Valenton, with the 4.5km journey taking about 17 minutes. Commuters using this service will be able to cover the distance in less than half the time it currently takes them by bus. The cable car line will be linked to the Parisian metro network in Créteil.
Île-de-France Mobilités, the French regional transport body, had signed a contract in May 2021 with ropeway, cable car and ski lift manufacturer Doppelmayr France SAS, architecture studio Atelier Schall as well as construction companies Spie Batignolles GC, France Travaux and Egis Rail to design, build and maintain the service.
With each cabin in the cable car designed to seat 10 passengers comfortably, the proposed urban aerial transport system is expected to transport about 1,600 people per hour and approximately 11,000 commuters each day. The cable car line will be supported by 33 Y- and V-shaped pylons along the route.
Cable 1 will provide an innovative solution to the daily commuting hassles faced by people in Paris’ south-eastern suburbs.
While there were other proposals on the table to address these transportation problems including adding more buses and building a new bridge to connect to the Créteil Metro station, there were several barrier elements such as multiple railway lines, road infrastructure and hilly terrain, which made over-ground transport options difficult to implement. The cable car system was, therefore, chosen as the most practical as well as cheaper option at €132 million (AUD 206.5 million).
Construction work on the Cable 1 line will begin this year and the service will be opened to the public in mid-2025. Depending on the success of the Cable 1 project, the authorities are considering the addition of up to 12 cable car lines in the Île-de-France region.
Image: Render by Romain Ghomari
