The Charenton Metro-Viaduct is a railroad

girder bridge A girder bridge is a bridge that uses girders as the means of supporting its deck. The two most common types of modern steel girder bridges are plate and box. The term "girder" is often used interchangeably with "beam" in reference to bridge d ...

located in the French department of

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

in the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region. It links the communes of

Charenton-le-Pont Charenton-le-Pont () is a Communes of France, commune situated to the southeast of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris, to the north of the confluence of the Seine and Marne (river), Marne rivers; the part of ...

and

Maisons-Alfort Maisons-Alfort () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort. The Fo ...

, crossing the

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

river, as well as the

A4 autoroute The A4 Autoroute, also known as autoroute de l'Est (), is a French ''Controlled-access highway, autoroute'' that travels between the cities of Paris and Strasbourg. It forms parts of European routes European route E17, E17, European route E25, ...

and 103 departmental road. First put into operation in 1970, the viaduct is used by trains on line 8 of the Paris metro. The total length of the viaduct is 199 m. Made up of steel beams resting on concrete

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

, the viaduct has a continuous gradient, due to the difference in level between the two

banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

of the Marne. It was renovated for the first time in 2011.

Location

The viaduct is located between the Charenton-Écoles and Maisons-Alfort–Stade stations. It crosses the 103 departmental road, the

and then the

. Since

is located on a hillside overlooking the

, the viaduct is inclined to compensate for the difference in level between the two stations.Quand le métro franchit la Seine
on ''transportparis.canalblog.fr'' (accessed 28 October 2020). The structure is flanked by two tramways, enabling line 8 to return underground. Robert 1983, p. 216. The surrounding bridges are the

Charenton bridge ''Charenton'' is the name or part of the name of several places: France * Charenton-le-Pont, in the Val-de-Marne ''département'', a commune which has a common border with Paris * Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, a neighboring commune that was called C ...

, to the east, and the railway viaduct of the

Paris–Marseille railway The railway from Paris to Marseille is an 862-kilometre long railway line, that connects Paris to the southern port city of Marseille, France, via Dijon and Lyon. The railway was opened in several stages between 1847 and 1856, when the final sect ...

, to the west. The structure is only a few hundred meters away from the confluence of the

and

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

rivers.

Technical specifications

The total length of the viaduct is 199 m, with an average height of 15.05 m between the rail and the water level. The structure has a continuous gradient of 41 mm/m towards

. It comprises two 55.5 m central

sections Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

and two 30 m lateral sections. The structure rests on six supports for three concrete piles, one of which is set in the riverbed. The steel deck is designed to aesthetically blend into the landscape. It consists of a continuous beam supported by two vertical solid-core girders located between the two tracks. By enclosing the lower part of the trains, they minimize rolling noise. The track rests on

ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...

, which is laid on a concrete

screed Screed has three meanings in building construction: # A flat board (screed board, floating screed) or a purpose-made aluminium tool used to smooth and to "Wikt:true#Verb, true" materials like concrete, stucco and plaster after they have been p ...

History

With the

becoming too saturated, in 1965 it was decided to extend line 8 from ''Charenton-Écoles'' to

and

Créteil Créteil () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, dep ...

. To achieve this, the line had to cross the

, but the difference in level between the two banks was too great to allow the line to pass under the river, as Charenton was located on a highland plateau. Instead, an elevated viaduct crossing was chosen – a first for a

Paris metro Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

since 1909. This extension, which had been planned as early as the 1930s, had been postponed due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In anticipation of the metro's construction, buildings in Charenton's Rue de Paris were expropriated in 1937, including the Hôtel du Plessis-Bellière. The upper part of Square Jules Noël and Place de Valois, as well as the buildings lining it, were built to replace the destroyed buildings. Construction of the viaduct began in the spring of 1968, with the construction of the

. The steel girders were installed in June 1969, and the viaduct was completed in November, enabling load tests to be carried out using five-motor

Sprague-Thomson Sprague-Thomson was the name of the first rolling stock on the Paris Métro made completely of metal. The first cars entered service in 1908 to replace the mostly wooden M1, and were retired from passenger service in 1983, after 75 years of ser ...

trains. The line was opened to traffic on 19 September 1970, with the extension of line 8 from ''Charenton-Écoles'' to ''Maisons-Alfort-Stade''. In the context of the extension of line 8 to '' Pointe du Lac'', the viaduct was closed for renovations during the summers of 2010 and 2011, with a replacement shuttle service in place during this period. The aim of the renovation is to improve the soundproofing of the structure and adapt it to the increased traffic associated with the extension. After the removal of the tracks and

, the concrete slab was replaced and then covered with an anti-vibration

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

coating, reducing noise levels by 10 dB per train. At the same time, the viaduct was repainted in a blue-green color, replacing the original blue-gray. The total cost of the project was four million euros.Hervé Guénot,
Réfection du viaduc en vue de l'extension de la ligne 8archive
on ''lemoniteur.fr'', 6 August 2010 (accessed 28 October 2020).

Location

Technical specifications

History

References

See also

Bibliography

Related articles

External links