Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame station

ConstructionStructure typeUndergroundPlatform levels2AccessibleOther informationStation codeFare zone1HistoryOpened1900 (1900)Previous namesPont Saint-MichelServices

Preceding station	RER			Following station
Châtelet–Les Halles towards Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV or Mitry–Claye		RER B		Luxembourg towards Robinson or Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
Musée d'Orsay towards Pontoise, Versailles Château Rive Gauche or Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines		RER C		Gare d'Austerlitz towards Massy-Palaiseau, Dourdan-la-Forêt or Saint-Martin-d'Étampes

Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame is a station on line B and line C of the Réseau Express Régional (RER) in Paris. Located in the 5th arrondissement, the station is named after the nearby Saint-Michel area and Notre-Dame Cathedral. The station opened, as Pont Saint-Michel and with platforms on the line that is now RER line C, in 1900. It gained its current name in 1988 with the opening of the line B platforms.

Situation

The main entrance to the station is in Place Saint-Michel on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. There is also a satellite entrance to the line B platforms on Place Notre-Dame, which is on the Île de la Cité across the Seine from Place Saint-Michel.^[2]

The line C platforms run parallel to the Seine at just above river level and are provided by natural light through 28 large windows that are designed to withstand flooding from the river. The line B platforms pass underneath the Seine and are at right-angles under the RER C platforms.^[2][3]

The station is linked by underground passageways to the Saint-Michel and Cluny–La Sorbonne stations of the Paris Metro. Saint-Michel is on metro line 4 and Cluny–La Sorbonne is on metro line 10.^[2]

History

The RER line C section of the station dates back to 1900, when it opened as the Pont Saint-Michel station on the extension of the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans from the Gare d'Austerlitz to a new terminus at the Gare d'Orsay. The Pont Saint-Michel station was built under the quays of the Seine, almost at river level, and its constrained location, with narrow and low platforms and reverse curves, affects operations to this day. Originally the platforms were lit by openings in the river bank, but these were filled in after the station was inundated during the Seine floods of 1910.^{[citation needed]}

In September 1979, a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) tunnel was constructed to link the Gare d'Orsay (now the Musée d'Orsay) to Invalides thus creating a cross-city line initially called the Transversal Rive Gauche. At the same time, the Pont Saint-Michel station was slightly widened. In May 1980, the Transversal Rive Gauche became the core part of the new RER line C.^{[citation needed]}

The RER line B had passed under Pont Saint-Michel station since December 1977, but the location under the quays made the construction of an interchange difficult. In February 1988, the line B platforms were finally opened, and the station was renamed to Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame. At the same time, Cluny–La Sorbonne station on the metro, which had was closed in 1939, was reopened to connect with the new RER station and give access to Boulevard Saint-Germain.^{[citation needed]}

On 25 July 1995, as part of a campaign of Islamist terror bombings that affected France in that year, the station was the target of an attack, with a gas bottle exploding near one of the line B platforms, killing eight and wounding 80 people.^[4]

In August 2022, the line C platforms were closed for modernisation. Originally intended to be complete by December of the same year, the platforms eventually reopened in April 2023. The principal improvement was the reinstatement of natural lighting by replacing the original openings, closed in 1910, with 28 large windows that are designed to withstand flooding. Other improvements were the provision of improved ventilation and escalator access.^[3][5][6]

Gallery

• 
  The station during the 1910 flood
• 
  One of two line B platforms
• 
  Line C platforms after 2023 modernisation
• 
  Close-up of new window fitted in 2023

Historical services

Dates	Company or line	Preceding station	Following station
1900–1937	Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans Paris–Bordeaux railway	Gare d'Orsay	Gare d'Austerlitz

See also

• List of stations of the Paris RER

References

External links

• Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame station at Transilien, the official website of SNCF (in French)