Batignolles tunnel

Batignolles Tunnel
The entrance to the Batignolles Tunnel galleries after the accident of 5 October 1921.
Overview
LocationParis, France
Coordinates48°53′00″N 2°19′11″E / 48.883207°N 2.319830°E / 48.883207; 2.319830
Operation
Closed1923
Technical
Length321 m (1,053 ft)
Route map
France Paris 17th arrondissement

The Batignolles Tunnel is a former railway tunnel in Paris, located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. It lies on the approaches to Gare Saint-Lazare in the Batignolles district and is 321 m (1,053 ft) long.

Constructed in successive phases between 1837 and 1909, it originally consisted of four parallel galleries. Following a railway accident in 1921, most of the tunnel was demolished between 1923 and 1925 and replaced with an open cutting. Only the most recent gallery, located beneath the Rue de Rome, was retained.

History

Construction of the galleries

In 1837, the Paris–Saint-Germain railway was opened. Leaving the Embarcadère de l'Ouest (Western terminus), then located near the present-day Place de l'Europe, the railway tracks had to pass beneath the commune of Batignolles-Monceau in an area that was already fairly densely populated. The tunnel began just before the Boulevard des Batignolles (then marking the boundary of Paris) and ended beyond the Rue La Condamine, passing beneath the Rue des Dames.[1]

When the Paris–Le Havre railway was built in the early 1840s, a second gallery was excavated.,[2][3] In 1865, a third gallery was constructed to the east of the first two.[2]

During the 1890s, the tunnel was already regarded as an obstacle, and proposals were made for its demolition.[4] However, demolishing the tunnel would have required the demolition of numerous nearby buildings,[5] and the project was abandoned for budgetary reasons.,[6][7] In 1909, a fourth gallery was constructed to the west beneath the Rue de Rome to accommodate the Auteuil line.[8]

Demolition of three of the four galleries

In 1912, after several years of studies, the management of the Chemins de fer de l'État decided to remove the tunnel's three oldest galleries, retaining only the recently constructed gallery beneath Rue de Rome. A design competition was launched for the project.,[9][10] The project was particularly complex because the work had to be carried out without disrupting either railway traffic or trains on Paris Métro Line 2,[11] which passed directly above the three tunnel galleries.[9] A detailed project, including plans, was approved by ministerial decision on 12 October 1914, but because of the First World War it was never carried out.[2]

Railway accident

On 5 October 1921, a train departing Gare Saint-Lazare collided with another train ahead of it in the so-called Versailles gallery (the one excavated in 1865).[12] The rupture of the gas reservoir of one of the struck coaches caused a fire in which 28 people died.[13]

As a result, the minister immediately ordered the removal of the three galleries forming the tunnel. The order was confirmed by a ministerial decision dated 5 December 1921.[14] Preparatory work had already begun on 17 October 1921.[15] Demolition of three of the tunnel's galleries—while retaining the gallery beneath the Rue de Rome—began in 1922[2] and was completed in 1926.[16] The former tunnel and its three galleries were replaced by an open cutting with eight tracks, known as the "Batignolles cutting", compared with the six tracks previously accommodated by the demolished tunnel galleries.

Paris Métro and the Boulevard des Batignolles were subsequently restored, with a steel bridge constructed across the railway cutting.

Characteristics

The tunnel, which originally consisted of four galleries, had the following characteristics:

  • length: 321 metres (1,053 ft);
  • gallery width:
    • 7.4 metres (24 ft) for galleries No.1 and No.2, known as the Saint-Germain and Argenteuil galleries;[12]
    • 8 metres (26 ft) for gallery No.3, known as the Versailles gallery,[12] where the 1921 accident occurred;
    • 8.5 metres (28 ft) for gallery No.4, known as the Auteuil gallery;[12]
  • height of the four vaults: approximately 6 metres (20 ft) above rail level;
  • the intrados was located 7 metres (23 ft) below the Rue de Rome.

Originally, five railway lines passed through the tunnel:

  • the Paris–Versailles Right Bank railway ("Group II");
  • the Paris–Saint-Germain railway ("Group III");
  • the Paris–Ermont–Eaubonne railway ("Group IV");
  • the Paris–Le Havre railway ("Group V");
  • the Paris–Mantes-la-Jolie railway via Conflans-Sainte-Honorine ("Group VI").

Today, only the Group II line continues to use the tunnel, passing through the sole remaining gallery beneath the Rue de Rome.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Cadastre révisé des communes annexées (1830–1850) (Map). Sheet 5. § Section B dite de Batignolles.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Le Génie civil : revue générale des industries françaises et étrangères" [Civil Engineering: General Review of French and Foreign Industries]. Le Génie civil (in French). 82 (6): 121–128. 10 February 1923.
  3. ↑ Compte rendu par le Ministre de l'intérieur pour l'exercice 1845 [Report by the Minister of the Interior for the 1845 Fiscal Year] (in French). p. 82.
  4. ↑ "Revue générale des industries françaises et étrangères" [General Review of French and Foreign Industries]. Le Génie civil (in French). 23 (18): 284. 2 September 1893.
  5. ↑ "Plan parcellaire municipal de Paris" [Municipal cadastral map of Paris]. Archives de Paris (in French). 67 (113). 67th quarter ("Batignolles"), sheet 113, archival reference PP/11830/E.
  6. ↑ "Religion, philosophie, politique" [Religion, Philosophy, Politics]. Le Correspondant (in French). 213–249: 19. 1912.
  7. ↑ "Bulletin municipal officiel de la Ville de Paris" [Official Municipal Bulletin of the City of Paris]. Bulletin municipal officiel de la Ville de Paris (in French) (34): 656. 4 February 1904.
  8. ↑ "Le Génie civil : revue générale des industries françaises et étrangères" [Civil Engineering: General Review of French and Foreign Industries]. Le Génie civil (in French). 57 (22): 401–406. 1 October 1910.
  9. 1 2 "Concours pour la suppression du tunnel des Batignolles" [Competition for the Removal of the Batignolles Tunnel]. Le Génie civil : revue générale des industries françaises et étrangères [Civil Engineering: General Review of French and Foreign Industries] (in French). 60 (20): 400. 16 March 1912.
  10. ↑ "Concours pour la suppression du tunnel des Batignolles" [Competition for the Removal of the Batignolles Tunnel]. Journal officiel de la République française [Official Journal of the French Republic] (in French) (68): 2329. 9 March 1912.
  11. ↑ Construction du souterrain au-dessus des trois voûtes du tunnel des Batignolles [Construction of the Underground Structure Above the Three Vaults of the Batignolles Tunnel] (in French). École nationale des ponts et chaussées. 1900–1903.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Tunnel des Batignolles" (PDF). Inventaire des Tunnels Ferroviaires de France [Inventory of Railway Tunnels in France] (in French).
  13. ↑ "Catastrophe du tunnel des Batignolles" [Batignolles Tunnel Disaster]. Le Petit Journal (in French). 6 October 1921.; "Catastrophe du tunnel des Batignolles" [Batignolles Tunnel Disaster]. Le Petit Journal (in French). 7 October 1921.; "Catastrophe du tunnel des Batignolles" [Batignolles Tunnel Disaster]. Le Petit Journal (in French). 8 October 1921.; "La catastrophe du tunnel des Batignolles" [The Batignolles Tunnel Disaster]. Le Temps (in French). 7 October 1921. p. 4.
  14. ↑ "Décisions ministérielles" [Ministerial Decisions]. Annales des mines ou Recueil de mémoires sur l'exploitation des mines et sur les sciences qui s'y rapportent [Annals of Mines or Collection of Memoirs on Mining Operations and Related Sciences]. 12th series (in French). 5: 356–357. 1924.
  15. ↑ "Le tunnel des Batignolles disparaît" [The Batignolles Tunnel Disappears]. L'Ouest-Éclair (in French). No. 7261. 18 October 1928.
  16. ↑ "La démolition du tunnel des Batignolles à Paris" [The Demolition of the Batignolles Tunnel in Paris]. Le Génie civil : revue générale des industries françaises et étrangères [Civil Engineering: General Review of French and Foreign Industries] (in French). 89 (23): 493–499. 4 December 1926.
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