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Maison Blanche station

Coordinates: 48°49′20″N 2°21′31″E / 48.822155°N 2.358531°E / 48.822155; 2.358531
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Maison Blanche
Line 7 platforms looking south
General information
Location13th arrondissement of Paris
Île-de-France
France
Coordinates48°49′20″N 2°21′31″E / 48.822155°N 2.358531°E / 48.822155; 2.358531
Owned byRATP
Operated byRATP
Construction
AccessibleAt least one escalator or lift in the station between the street and the platform[1]
ArchitectGroupe-6 (Line 14 station)
Other information
Fare zone1
History
Opened7 March 1930; 94 years ago (1930-03-07)
Services
Preceding station Paris Métro Paris Métro Following station
Le Kremlin–Bicêtre
towards Villejuif–Louis Aragon
 Line 7
Villejuif branch
 Tolbiac
towards La Courneuve–8 mai 1945
Porte d'Italie
towards Mairie d'Ivry
 Line 7
Ivry branch
Olympiades
towards Saint-Denis–Pleyel
 Line 14 Hôpital Bicêtre
towards Aéroport d'Orly
Location
Maison Blanche is located in Paris
Maison Blanche
Maison Blanche
Location within Paris

Maison Blanche station (French pronunciation: [mɛzɔ̃ blɑ̃ʃ]) is a station of the Paris Métro, serving lines 7 and 14. South of this station, Line 7 forks into two branches, one leading to Villejuif–Louis Aragon and the other to Mairie d'Ivry. Since June 2024, it is an interchange with Line 14 running southwards to Aéroport d'Orly.[2]

Location

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The line 7 station is located under Avenue d'Italie, between Rue Caillaux and Rue Bourgon, near Porte d'Italie, a gate in the former Thiers Wall. Towards the south, this is the last station on the common trunk of line 7 before the branches separate, thanks to an underground grade-separated junction located after the station, one towards Mairie d'Ivry and the other towards Villejuif-Louis Aragon. Oriented approximately along a north-south axis, it is positioned between Tolbiac on the one hand and Porte d'Italie (towards Ivry) or Le Kremlin-Bicêtre (towards Villejuif) on the other. On line 14, the station is between Olympiades and Hôpital Bicêtre.

The line 14 station is located about 21 metres (69 ft) deep between Rue Caillaux and Rue Tagore, along Avenue d'Italie, east of the current metro station of Line 7.

Access to the Line 14 and Line 7 platforms is from the centre of a large forecourt where the entrance to the metro is located. Travelers can use escalators or elevators to access the platforms. From the platforms, the connections are via the mezzanine.

The surface forecourt provides access to the T3a tram line or the Porte d'Italie bus hub. It also hosts a Véligo station.

History

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Original station

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It opened as part of a planned section of Line 7, which was temporarily operated as part of Line 10 until the completion of the under-Seine crossing of Line 7 from Pont de Sully to Place Monge. On 7 March 1930, the line was extended from Place d'Italie to Porte de Choisy, including Maison Blanche. The station was integrated into line 7 on 26 April 1931. The station is named after the district, which got its name from a hotel of the same name, which is French for "White House".

Along with Place des Fêtes, a prototype air raid shelter was added to the station in 1935 to protect it from chemical attacks and was fitted with airtight doors to allow the people to take refuge inside in the event of an attack. They were chosen because of their proximity to the heavily-populated working-class districts.[3]

An attack was perpetrated by a terrorist group (GIA) near the station on 6 October 1995. A gas cylinder placed in a trash can was discovered by a postman, but it exploded while the police set up a security perimeter; the toll was 18 injured.[4][5] The place was chosen to reference the circumstances of the arrest of Khaled Kelkal, one of the main instigators of the RER B attack in Saint-Michel. A few days earlier, on 29 September 1995, the police had shot Kelkal during his arrest at a place called Maison Blanche, near Vaugneray (Rhône).[6]

As part of RATP's Renouveau du métro renewal program, the station corridors and platform lighting were renovated on 4 October 2006.[7]

In 2019, 1,803,381 travellers entered this station, which placed it at the 259th position of 302 among the metro stations for its number of visitors.[8]

Extension of line 14

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Line 14 station platform on opening day

Early plans to extend Line 14 south from Paris included the possibility of taking over the existing Line 7 branch from the station to Villejuif – Louis Aragon, which opened in the early 1980s.

In the 2010s, discussions took place regarding whether to extend Line 14 further south to Orly Airport.[9][10] The declaration of public utility was in 2016, allowing construction on the extension to begin.[9] The extension was originally planned to be completed in 2027, however delivery was accelerated to 2024 following the awarding of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.[11]

The preparatory work at Maison Blanche took place from November 2016 until the end of 2017. The construction of the station began in 2018 for commissioning in 2024.[12] It was awarded in March 2018 to Léon Grosse in a consortium with Soletanche Bachy France.[13] Tunnelling work was completed in March 2021, with the arrival of a tunnel boring machine at Maison Blanche.[14] In April 2023, testing of trains on the Line 14 extension began,[15] with an opening date of 24 June 2024 set.[16]

Maison Blanche is the only station built in Paris as part of the Grand Paris Express, under the contracting authority of RATP.

The design of the station is entrusted to the consortium led by the engineers SETEC TPI and SYSTRA as well as to Mark Wilson of the Groupe-6 architecture firm.[17]

Architecture and art

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Californian artist and environmentalist sculptor Ned Kahn created an art installation overlooking the station in coordination with Mark Wilson.[18] The work called River of Air is made of stainless steel and flexible sheets of ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) which will wave and reflect the sunlight above the two of the station entrances.[19] The height of the masts supporting the structure will be 10–12 metres (33–39 ft) and the sail will be 65 metres (213 ft) long and 11 metres (36 ft) wide.[20]

Passenger services

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Access

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The station has three entrances in front of no's 103, 144 and 162 in the Avenue d'Italie.

A fourth entrance, located at no. 119, was closed in November 2019 to allow the construction of the line 14 station. In return, the entrance located at no. 162 was rebuilt from 2016 to 2019 and provided with a escalator to exit the station.[21]

Station layout

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Street Level
B1 Connecting level
Line 7 platforms Side platform, doors will open on the right
Southbound ← toward Villejuif–Louis Aragon (Le Kremlin-Bicêtre)
← toward Mairie d'Ivry (Porte d'Italie)
Northbound → toward La Courneuve–8 mai 1945 (Tolbiac) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

Platforms

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Maison Blanche is a standard configuration station. It has two platforms separated by the metro tracks and the vault is elliptical. The decoration is of the style used for the majority of metro stations. The lighting canopies are white and rounded in the Gaudin style of the renouveau du métro des années 2000 renewal, and the bevelled white ceramic tiles cover the upright wall, the vault and the tunnel exits. The advertising frames are in honey-coloured faience and the name of the station is also in earthenware. The seats are Motte style in a blue colour.

Bus connections

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The station is served by line 47 and by the urban service La Traverse Bièvre Montsouris of the RATP Bus Network.

Culture

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The station serves as the backdrop for an important scene from Günter Grass's novel The Tin Drum (1960), in which the hero, Oscar Matzerath, sees the inspectors coming to arrest him as he walks towards the exit using the escalator.

Nearby

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References

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  1. ^ "Plan des lignes -personnes à mobilité réduite" [Line plan - persons with reduced mobility] (PDF) (Map). RATP (in French). May 2022.
  2. ^ Compagnon, Sébastian; Gairaud, Marie-Anne (24 June 2024). "Ligne 14 de Saint-Denis - Pleyel à l'aéroport d'Orly : « Ces nouvelles stations, c'est vraiment waouh ! »". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Un jour, une station : Maison Blanche, réputée invulnérable". RATP. 29 June 2020. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  4. ^ Ina.fr, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel-. "Attentat avenue d'Italie". Ina.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Attentats de 1995: Ramda jugé à Paris". LExpress.fr (in French). 1 October 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  6. ^ Dubois, Christophe; Terrier, Nelly (30 September 2002). "Deux islamistes face aux 200 victimes des attentats de 1995". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  7. ^ "SYMBIOZ - Le Renouveau du Métro". www.symbioz.net. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Trafic annuel entrant par station du réseau ferré 2019". dataratp2.opendatasoft.com (in French). Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Projet Métro ligne 14 Prolongement Olympiades > Aéroport d'Orly". Île-de-France Mobilités (in French). 10 March 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Développement de la région capitale (Development of the capital region)" (in French). French government. 29 April 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  11. ^ "Paris' metro Line 14 completes tests 20 days before inauguration". Le Monde.fr. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Maison Blanche – Paris XIIIe". Société du Grand Paris (in French). 28 April 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  13. ^ "La RATP donne le coup d'envoi des travaux de génie civil de la ligne 14 sud" (in French). 8 March 2018. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ "Le tunnel du prolongement de la ligne 14 sud est terminé - Travaux | RATP". RATP. 3 March 2021. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  15. ^ "La 14 passe à 8 voitures sur toute la ligne !". Prolongement d'Olympiades à Aéroport d'Orly de la ligne 14 du métro (in French). Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Paris' metro Line 14 completes tests 20 days before inauguration". Le Monde.fr. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Grand Paris Express : les maîtres d'œuvre de la ligne 14 sud désignés" (in French). 10 June 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ^ "Les gares du Grand Paris Express abriteront la plus grande collection d'art urbain d'Europe". Société du Grand Paris (in French). 19 December 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  19. ^ Gréco, Bertrand; Kleiber, Marie-Anne (18 December 2018). "EXCLUSIF. Voici les premiers projets d'œuvres destinées aux gares du Grand Paris Express". lejdd.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Ned KAHN & Mark WILSON". www.culture-grandparisexpress.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Un nouvel accès pour la station Maison Blanche (M7), bientôt complété d'un escalier mécanique en sortie". Prolongement d'Olympiades à Aéroport d'Orly de la ligne 14 du métro (in French). 22 November 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
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