Gare de La Bastille - History

History

Designed by François-Alexis Cendrier, the Gare de la Bastille was one of Paris's earliest railway termini. In 1853, the French government decided that a strategic connection with the fort at Vincennes was desirable. The Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Paris à Strasbourg was granted a concession to build the line, and a connecting line to Mulhouse. The Mulhouse line would share the Gare de Strasbourg (now the Gare de Paris-Est), but the Ligne de Vincennes would also create a new terminus close to the centre of Paris, the Gare de la Bastille. In 1853, the company, now known as the Chemins de fer de l'Est (CF de l'Est), opened the 17-kilometre (11 mi)-long line between Vincennes and La Varenne. The extension to Paris opened on 22 September 1859. and the line was soon carrying 6,000,000 passengers each year.

In 1871, following the end of the Franco-Prussian War, France lost Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. This drastically reduced the territory served by the CF de l'Est. As a result, the Gare de l'Est was developed to become the CF de l'Est's main station in Paris. Although the Gare de la Bastille was only a local terminus, by 1889 it was the second busiest in Paris, handling 12,000,000 passengers per annum. The Ligne de Vincennes was extended to Verneuil-l'Etang in 1892, making it 55 kilometres (34 mi) long. The station served commuters during the week, and Parisians escaping to the country on weekends. By the 1920s, the Gare de la Bastille was handling 30,000,000 passengers each year. Electric traversers were installed to allow longer trains to be handled.

Along with the Depression of the 1930s came increased competition from buses and the Métro. Passenger numbers decreased by half, and the CF de l'Est attempted to close the line. Permission for this was refused but the 19-kilometre (12 mi) section between Brie-Comte-Robert and Verneuil-l'Etang was closed to passengers in 1939, though it was temporarily revived during and for a while after the Second World War. In 1945, the Gare de la Bastille became for a few months what it had originally been intended to be, a main line terminus or Gare des Grande Lignes. This followed the wartime destruction of a viaduct at Nogent-sur-Marne that had cut the main line from the Gare de l'Est to Mulhouse so long distance trains were diverted to Bastille. In 1953, the Ligne de Vincennes closed to passengers beyond Boissy-Saint-Léger.

In the mid-1960s, construction of the Réseau Express Régional (RER) began. The Ligne de Vincennes as far as Boissy-Saint-Léger was to become part of a high-speed métro and its first 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) would be replaced with a new underground line. The last train departed the Gare de la Bastille at 00:50 on 15 December 1969, hauled by locomotive 141 TB 432. The Gare de la Bastille was the last terminus in Paris operated entirely by steam locomotives. Following closure, the station buildings became a concert and exhibition hall. A number of pop concerts were held there and in 1976, a major model railway exhibition. The station buildings were listed as being of historic importance but despite this, they were demolished in 1984 to make way for the Opéra Bastille. The 1,200-metre (1,300 yd) long viaduct which formed the approach to the station survives. The former rail lines are now the Promenade plantée, whilst the arches now form the Viaduc des Arts, located alongside the Avenue de Daumesnil.