Transilien Line V is a railway line serving the southwestern part of

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 ...

. It connects and . It belongs to the

Transilien Transilien () is the brand name given to the commuter rail and tram-train network operated by SNCF and serving Île-de-France, the region surrounding and including the city of Paris. The network consists of lines Transilien Line H, H, Transilie ...

network operated by

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

, the French national railway. Unlike the other Transilien lines (with the exception of Line U), Line V lies completely outside the city limits of

Paris 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 ...

. Before December 2023, the line was operated as a branch of

RER C RER C is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. The line crosses the region from north to south. Briefly, betwe ...

. On 4 December 2023, the line was separated from the RER C and became a shuttle line, in preparation for the opening of the T12 Express tramway line on 10 December 2023. The line is officially designated line V on 15 December 2024.

History

The tracks that Transilien Line V operates over were built as part of the

Grande Ceinture line The Grande Ceinture line (, ) is a Rail transport, railway line around Paris, located from the Boulevard Périphérique. The decision to build it was taken at the end of the 19th century, to connect the radial lines linking the capital to the pr ...

. Construction of the line began after August 1875 when it was declared of public utility. The section that the Line V operates over opened as part of the section from railway line between

Juvisy Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located southeast of Paris and a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The city is known for Gare de Juvisy, ...

and Versailles Chantiers on 1 May 1883. A large part of the Grande Ceinture line was closed to passenger traffic in 1939 with the exception of the southernmost section of the future line V, between Versailles Chantiers and Juvisy via Massy–Palaiseau. However, the majority of trains over the line were freight trains. This section of the line was electrified on 6 February 1947. Additional passenger traffic would come to the line over the following decades until the line was integrated into the

line of the

Réseau Express Régional The (; ), 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, similar to the Elizabe ...

in 1992. In 2004 and again in 2008, studies were conducted into adding more frequent service on the line, first proposing it become a dedicated RER line, then later recommending it become a

tram-train A tram-train or dual-system tram is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but a ...

line. However, the section between Versailles Chantiers and Massy–Palaiseau chosen for conversion, instead focusing on the section between Massy–Palaiseau and Épinay-sur-Orge. On June 7, 2023, the president of

Île-de-France Mobilités Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) is the governmental authority ( EPA) that controls and coordinates the different companies operating the Paris-area public transport network and the rest of the Île-de-France region. In this capacity, it issu ...

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (; Birth name, née Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council (France), President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republic ...

announced that the section of between Versailles Chantiers and Massy–Palaiseau would be disconnected from the RER C network to be operated as separate shuttle line. The disconnection took place on 10 December 2023, the same day the T12 Express tramway line started operating between Massy–Palaiseau and Épinay-sur-Orge. The Line V name is being progressively rolled out on signs and websites, with the full change occurring on 8 December 2024.

References

Transilien Railway lines opened in 2023 {{Paris-railstation-stub

History

See also

References