Line D () is a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

line on the

Lyon Metro The Lyon Metro (french: Métro de Lyon) is a rapid transit system serving Lyon Metropolis, France. First opened in 1974, it currently consists of four lines, serving 40 stations and comprising of route. Part of the Transports en Commun Lyonnai ...

. It runs east–west underneath the two major rivers of Lyon, France, connecting

Vieux Lyon The Vieux Lyon ( en, Old Lyon) is the largest Renaissance district of Lyon. In 1964, Vieux-Lyon, the city's oldest district, became the first site in France to be protected under the Malraux law to protect France's cultural sites. Covering an a ...

with the Presqu'ile and the

Part-Dieu Part-Dieu () is an area of Lyon Metropolis. It is also the second largest tertiary district in France, after La Défense in Greater Paris, with over 1,150,000 m2 of office and service space, along with 45,000 service sector jobs, 2,500 compani ...

region. Line D commenced operation under human control on 4 September 1991, between ''Gorge-de-Loup'' and ''Grange-Blanche''. It was extended to ''

Gare de Vénissieux Gare is the word for "station" in French and related languages, commonly meaning railway station Gare can refer to: People * Gare (surname), surname * The Gare Family, fictional characters in the novel '' Wild Geese'' by Martha Ostenso Places * ...

'' on 11 December 1992, when it switched to automatic (driverless) operation, also known as MAGGALY (''Métro Automatique à Grand Gabarit de l’Agglomération Lyonnaise''). On 28 April 1997, the line was extended again to ''Gare de Vaise''. Being the deepest of the lines in Lyon, it was constructed mainly using boring machines and passes under both rivers, the ''

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

'' and the ''

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name d ...

''. At long and serving 15 stations, it is also the longest metro line in Lyon.

List of stations

Vaise Vaise is a neighborhood of the City of Lyon ( France), located along the Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and ...

(connection:

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

) * Valmy * Gorge de Loup (connection:

) * Vieux Lyon - Cathédrale Saint-Jean (connections: funiculars F1, F2) * Bellecour (connection: metro A) * Guillotière - Gabriel Péri (connection: tram T1) * Saxe-Gambetta (connection: metro B) * Garibaldi * Sans Souci * Monplaisir-Lumière * Grange Blanche (connections: tram T2, tram T5) * Laënnec * Mermoz-Pinel (connection: tram T6) * Parilly *

Vénissieux Vénissieux (; Arpitan: or in the Lyonnais dialect) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Geography Vénissieux is located on the southern outskirts of Lyon. Toponymy The name ''Vénis ...

(connections:

, tram T4)

Chronology

* 9 September 1991: Opening of line D from ''Gorge de Loup'' to ''Grange Blanche'' * 11 December 1992: Extension from ''Grange Blanche'' to ''Gare de Vénissieux'' * 28 April 1997: Extension from ''Gorge de Loup'' to ''Gare de Vaise''

Rolling stock

Since the opening of the line in 1991, there are 36 MPL 85 trains. The MPL 85 are composed of 2 cars per trainset. From 2020, only during peak hours, each train could combine two MPL 85 trainsets and form a single train of 4 cars. In 2016, new

MPL 16 MPL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * MPL Communications (or ''McCartney Publishing Limited''), a music publisher * ''Patrologia Latina'', a collection of manuscripts compiled in the 19th century * Puri Lukisan Museum, a gallery of Balinese ...

trains have been ordered to

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...

. 10 of them will circulate on the line starting from 2023, in addition to MPL 85 trains. The 2 cars of each train will be connected with gangways, and it will be a novelty in Lyon Metro. The MPL 16 trains won't be able to run on the line D with the current driverless system, MAGGALY. To overcome this problem, the line D will get a new driverless system, the same as the one which will equip the line B starting from 2020, where MPL 16 will circulate too.

References

External links

Transports en Commun Lyonnais (TCL)
D Rubber-tyred metros 2nd arrondissement of Lyon 3rd arrondissement of Lyon 5th arrondissement of Lyon 7th arrondissement of Lyon 8th arrondissement of Lyon 9th arrondissement of Lyon Railway lines opened in 1991 Articles containing video clips 1991 establishments in France {{France-metro-stub