Simulation: Paris St Lazare and J lines

 

 

The station Paris-Saint Lazare is one of the six Parisian railway stations, each of them being the origin of one branch of the star-like main national network. It is dedicated to suburban trains (lines L and J) and to trains going to Normandy. There is no high speed line to Normandy, so no TGV can be seen at Paris-St Lazare. The area that is accessible departing from this station may seem quite small compared to the Parisian stations serving the South of France, but the traffic is actually very heavy. Note that only around 50% of the trains departing from or arriving at Paris-St Lazare are represented in the layout!

The 10 tracks originating at Paris-St Lazare are all electrified with 25kV-50Hz and divided in several groups

Groups II and III are not represented in the layout and are used by the other suburban line L. Platform 1 to 8 are dedicated to these groups.

Group IV, Paris – Argenteuil – Ermont-Eaubonne. Between Asnières-sur-Seine and Argenteuil, this group has the same path as group VI. Trains of this group always serve every stations between Asnières-sur-Seine and Ermont-Eaubonne.. Platforms 9 to 12 are dedicated to this group.

Group V, Paris – Poissy – Mantes-la-Jolie, part of the national line Paris – Rouen – Le Havre. After Poissy, the tracks follow the Seine river on its southern riverside. The line is doubled between Vernouillet and Les Mureaux, allowing fast suburban trains and interregional trains to Normandy to overtake slow ones. After Mantes-la-Jolie, there is an embranchment to the second main line in Normandy serving Evreux, Caen and Cherbourg. Platforms 13 to 16 are dedicated to group V suburban trains and platforms 21 to 27 to longer intercity trains.

Group VI, Paris – Argenteuil – Conflans – Mantes-la-Jolie. This line also goes to Mantes-la-Jolie, following the northern side of Seine though. At Conflans station, there is an embranchment going to Pontoise. Platforms 17 to 20 are dedicated to these trains.

Exploitation

A detailed description of the daily service of these lines would be quite difficult to write and understand. There are nevertheless important points that should be stressed...

Interregional trains coming or going to Normandy have to cross the tracks dedicated to group VI because these long trains cannot use other platforms than the 21-27 ones. This issue is often responsible for delays and should be handled in a few years.

Les Mureaux is a very important station during rush hours. This station is indeed used as a partial terminus for one half of the suburban trains of group V. As all suburban trains serve either Vernouillet or Vernouillet and Les Clairières de Mureaux, they all have to use the slow tracks.

Clément Debrie (debrieclement3b@yahoo.fr)