The long-awaited express rail line between Paris and Roissy may not be delivered on schedule.
The CDG express was initially intended to link the Gare de l’Est to Roissy airport in 20 minutes in 2024 and finally provide a credible alternative to the disastrous RER B and an overly congested road network.
Hell to come for RER B users
Was because its construction poses a dilemma to date unsolved. Two alternatives exist.
The first is indeed a delivery in time for the Olympic Games in 2024 but with a high cost for users in the Paris region. This option would require one or even two interruptions of RER B traffic for two or three weeks on the northern part of RER B. In addition, there would be 140 days of traffic interruption from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., outside of rush hours. When you know the understandable state of exasperation of the regular users of the RER B, it would indeed be more than difficult to live.
The second is therefore a scenario with less nuisance for users but delivery in 2025.
We are waiting for the state’s decision.
With only a one year difference, the most logical solution would be to play the 2025 option, but this is not without some thoughts.
We are not going to talk about the fact that we find it unbelievable that this line does not yet exist and that the question is still being asked in 2019! Whether we are talking about Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur, Hong-Kong…anyone who has experienced the express connections between the city centers and the airports can only notice that the arrival in Paris by the RER B for a foreign tourist gives the image of an third world country! So much for the image.
For the experience the remark is the same. What spoils the traveler’s experience is not Roissy, despite its imperfections, it is the RER B! Transportation is the plague of CDG. This line is vital for the passengers as well as for the image of the airport and its operator.
Why are they only waking up today?
So yes, one year more or less doesn’t change much…but that would take the Olympics out of the equation. In 2024 Paris will be for a few weeks the center of the world with an influx of tourists even more important than usual and Instead of launching a seduction operation that could have positive effects in the long term, we are going to serve them with a smile (or not) a slum level experience. Not sure if it makes them want to return. So yes, since the time Roissy became a joke for all its users, especially because of the connections with the city center, one year more or less does not matter. But since the project has been in existence, since the studies have been carried out, since the deadlines have been known, it is still amazing that in 2019 we wake up and realize that the deadlines can only be met at such a cost to the passengers.
We remind you that the CDG Express line was declared of public utility in 2008!
For the Olympic Games, we expected a brand new terminal and a CDG Express. For the terminal we already know that it will be no (but for good reasons), for the CDG Express it’s starting to smell bad. Not sure Notre Dame will be restored either…. Are you sure we’ll make the Olympics at least?
Photo : RER at Roissy by Sorbis via Shutterstock
