The éseauExpressRéRéseau Express Régional (; ), commonly abbreviated RER (), is a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. It acts as a combined city-center underground rail system and suburbs-to-city-center commuter rail. In the city center, it acts as a faster counterpart of the Paris Métro, having fewer stops.
Conceived of as a "métropolitain express" (express metro) during the mid 1930s, the scheme was revived in the 1950s and construction began in the early 1960s. The RER was not fully conceptualised until the completion of the Schéma directeur d'aménagement et d'urbanisme (roughly: "master plan for urban development") in 1965. The RER network, which initially comprised two lines, was formally inaugurated on 8 December 1977 in a ceremony that was attended by President Valery Giscard D'Estaing. A second phase of construction commenced at the end of the 1970s which saw additional lines constructed along with extensions to the original two. The RER is operated partly by RATP, the authority that operates most of the public transport in Paris, and partly by SNCF, France's national rail operator.
As of 2023, the network consists of five lines: A, B, C, D and E. The network has 257 stations and has interchanges with the Métro and commuter rail within the City of Paris and the suburbs. The lines are identified by letters to avoid confusion with the Métro lines, which are identified by numbers. The network is still expanding: RER E, which opened in 1999, is planned for westward extension toward La Défense and Mantes-la-Jolie in two phases by 2024–2026. The performance of the RER has made it a model for proposals to improve transit within other cities. In November 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of the additional RERs that will serve the ten largest French metropolises by 2040.
Characteristics
The RER contains 257 stations, 33 of which are within the city of Paris, and runs over of track, including underground. Each line passes through the city almost wholly underground and on tracks dedicated to the RER, but some city center tracks are shared between line D and line B. The RER is operated partly by RATP, the authority that operates most public transport in Paris, and partly by SNCF, the national rail operator. The system, which is structured in a traditional radial arrangement, operates a through-service and uses a single fare model that works seamlessly with several other public transit systems. Total traffic on the central sections of lines A and B, operated by RATP, was 452 million people in 2006; in the same year, total traffic on all Paris area commuter lines operated by SNCF (both RER and Transilien trains) was 657 million.
RATP manages 65 RER stations, including all stations on Line A east of Nanterre-Préfecture and those on the branch to Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It also operates stations on Line B south of Gare du Nord. Other stations on the two lines and those on lines C, D and E are operated by SNCF. Of the RER stations operated by RATP, 9 have interchanges with Métro lines, and 9 allow transfer to SNCF's Transilien service. In comparison to the system, the RER provides better coverage of Paris' suburbs and typically operates at higher speeds and with greater distances between stations. Within the city center, RER services practice limited stop operations.
In June 2017, transport authorities announced that the RER brand was being retired, and that the system would simply be referred to on public signage, maps, and other materials as Train. Allegedly, the term was difficult to pronounce for non-locals, especially those who did not speak French as a first language.
History
Origins
Its roots are in the 1936 Ruhlmann-Langewin plan of the Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris (Metropolitan Railway Company of Paris) for a "métropolitain express" (express metro). The company's post-war successor, RATP, revived the scheme in the 1950s, and in 1960 an interministerial committee decided to go ahead with the construction of an east-west line. Subsequently, the central part of the RER was completed between 1962 and 1977 in a large-scale civil engineering project whose chief supervisor was Siavash Teimouri. The construction of the RER was a major undertaking, being highly visible to both Parisians and visiting tourists at various sites across the city for an extended period.