Paris metro exploitation – Wikipedia

L’ Paris metro exploitation Includes the conduct of trains and traffic management on the lines.

With for the most loaded lines of the network, a train every 90 seconds, the Autonomous Régie des Transports Parisiens (RATP) must manage them as best as possible. Formerly entirely manual, the exploitation is now assisted by computers. On line 14, the most recent of the network, this task is ensured in its entirety by software called automation system for the exploitation of trains (SAET), from the conduct of trains to the injection of additional trains rush hour.

Fully manual exploitation [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

View of the quays of a line in 1911.

At its opening in July 1900, the Paris metro, which was then only made up of part of the current line 1, was operated by a large number of agents. We find there then ^{[ first ]} :

• A supervisor chief, responsible for staff on trains when they stopped them, head of technical installations in his station and sales manager with the supervision of ticket sales;
• quay supervisors, responsible for supervising the quays and helping the rise and descent of travelers in the presence of trains;
• A receiver in charge of the sale of tickets;
• A control supervisor who paints the tickets. The control supervisor is generally the husband of the receiver.

On board trains too, the staff are in large numbers. We find there ^{[ first ]} :

• A train manager, responsible for all the staff on the train, including the driver;
• guards ensuring the proper functioning of the doors which were not automatic, as well as the monitoring of the train;
• A driver, responsible for driving the train and the small maintenance of the motors.

It is the disaster of crowns, on August 10, 1903 on line 2, which completely changed the entire organization, deemed insufficient ^{[ first ]} . While the lines are subject to technical modifications intended to reduce the risk of fire in tunnel, a new organization is set up with in particular the creation of an online supervision staff, responsible for assisting the agents distributed In the station and in the trains. The lines are thus divided into several sectors, with for each of them the presence of a managerial officer, the chief of the sector ^{[ 2 ]} .

Two services are created: movement service and traction service.
The movement service concerns sedentary agents, in station and online, as well as trains support agents, which are placed under the authority of officers called “regulators”. These are responsible for the management of intervals between trains, management of schedules being provided by sector chiefs. In the terminus, sedentary agents and trains support agents were under the responsibility of a Subf-head of terminus. He was responsible for sending the trains, with a departure chief and the heads of maneuver on the line. Both are under the responsibility of the station manager, who depends on a movement inspector, himself dependent on a department head.
The second service, the traction service, concerns only trains conducting officers, who are placed under the responsibility of a sector manager, who depends on a traction inspector, himself dependent on a department head.
These two services then coexist without real links between them ^{[ 2 ]} .

This dual pyramid organization worked for many years, until the 1950s, from which it began to present signs of inadequate, while the very young RATP sought to modernize its network. This maladjustment results in a gradual degradation of the traveler service with accumulations of delay and elongation of waiting time ^{[ 3 ]} .

The causes identified as being at the origin of these problems were ^{[ 3 ]} :

• The lack of communication between the officers and the staff on trains and the lack of visibility of the officers on the overall situation of the line preventing decisions;
• the dilapidation of the means of control and control of track devices, most of which were still manual, as well as the dilapidation of traction current management systems;
• growing rivalry and absence of coordination between traction and maneuver services;
• Operating regulations that no longer met the needs of the time.

Arrival of automatisms [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The building housing the centralized control stations (CCC) of several metro lines, boulevard Bourdon in Paris.

After the Second World War, the RATP embarked on a great technical modernization of its network, despite relatively limited financial means. First, she takes care of modernizing her rolling stock. Then it is the turn of the exploitation of lines to be modernized in the 1960s with the arrival of electronics and automation techniques ^{[ 3 ]} .

Trying to centralize and automate all current operations to exploit its lines, the first concern of the RATP is to be able to give its officers a global vision of the situation of the lines, in order to allow them to make decisions The more quickly, the second is to be able to quickly execute its decisions by remote controling the lane devices on the ground ^{[ 4 ]} .

This is how the centralized control and control stations (PCC) were born. They were accompanied in 1966 in the merger of movement and traction services, allowing the creation of a single authority responsible for the exploitation of lines. A position of regulatory chief, born from the merger of the responsibilities of former regulators and traction chiefs, is created at the PCC to complete the system ^{[ 4 ]} .

Each independent line has its own CCP, all grouped alongside the permanence of the Ferré network, boulevard Bourdon, in the fourth arrondissement of Paris ^{[ 4 ]} .

Line 1 is the first line equipped in 1967. The other lines followed between 1967 and 1975. Originally, the RATP planned to manage each line entirely from PCCs, including terminus. The first results being disappointing, the RATP is changed and decides to maintain local maneuver (PML) by modernizing them. While the last lines were equipped with their CCP in the 1970s, the first CCPs are modernized to catch up with their technological delay: PCCs of lines 11 and 7 are modernized in 1975 and 1979 while the PCC of line 1 is modernized in 1980 ^{[ 4 ]} .

New operation [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

To resolve the organizational difficulties encountered from the 1950s, the 1970s saw the merger of traction and maneuver services to give birth to a versatile master’s degree: a single supervision for drivers and sedentary agents.
Under the authority of an “deputy operating inspector” (IAE) part of the line supervision team, the terminus sous-chef oversees drivers and the terminus maneuvering agents and supervises agents from the terminus station. In the event of an incident, the Terminus Subf way can now be reinforced on the line.
Under the authority of an “line head inspector” and his assistant, the line of line takes the responsibilities of the former heads of the traction service as well as the responsibilities of regulators of the Mouvement Service. Working in close cooperation with the PCC regulator, he is the representative of supervision on the line ^{[ 3 ]} .

Decentralization of CCPs [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In the 2000s, CCPs were mostly about thirty years old. The technology that has evolved considerably since the development of IT, the RATP in program renovation. It is the PCC on line 4, the oldest in the network, since never renovated, which is the first to be renewed on an experimental basis at the end of 2001 ^{[ 5 ] , [ 6 ]} .

This renewal is an opportunity for RATP to relocate its CCPs as close as possible to the lines they supervise on the model of RER A and B and line 14. The PCC of line 4 was installed near Denfert-Rochereau . It is also a new attempt for the RATP to bring together in a single place the management of the entire line, including departures and arrivals in terminus ^{[ 7 ]} .
All the functions devolved to the regulatory chief, the departure chief and the maneuvering chief are automated and grouped in the same place, thus making it possible to facilitate exchanges between these different actors ^{[ 5 ]} .

On December 17, 2006, as part of its modernization program and the installation of the Hurricane Train Management System, it is line 13 to have its own centralized control and control post (PCC) , built by Thalès ^{[ 8 ]} and decentralized as close as possible to the line; It manages the entire line from Châtillon ^{[ 9 ]} . Using the model tested and validated on line 4, it brings together the executives responsible for the terminus, those responsible for regulating the line as well as a foreman responsible for remote maintenance, under the responsibility of a coordinator ^{[ ten ]} , in order to limit incidents and delays as much as possible. Since July 29, 2008 , the PCC integrates the “maneuver and departure” functions which were previously carried out in the local maneuvering positions (PML) of the various terminus of the line. These functions are carried out by terminus managers (GT) who occupy two dedicated positions to regulate traffic management at the start of the terminus ^{[ 11 ] , [ twelfth ]} .

In May 2010, as part of the automation of line 1, it was line 1 to have a new centralized, fully computerized order post. Installed at 9 ^{It is} floor of the RATP building on Boulevard Bourdon, it is equipped with the operating system for Saet trains which allows the supervision of manual and automatic trains ^{[ 13 ]} .

The May 3 2020 , as part of the automation of line 4, the new centralized line control station is put into service ^{[ 14 ]} .

In 2021, the new centralized command of line 11 was put into service ^{[ 15 ]} .

Provisional PCC renewal schedule [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The forecast PCC renewal planning still centralized is as follows ^{[ 11 ]} :

• 2011: line 10;
• 2012: line 12;
• 2014: line 9.

Signaling and driving aid systems [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Control and control stations (CPC) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The centralized order position on line 1.

Centralized control stations (CCC) are the neuralgic centers ^{[ 17 ]} , ensuring the walking of trains, traffic regulation, but also assistance to drivers or the regulation of traction energy on the lines of the Paris metro.

The PCC allows supervisors to have a global vision of the metro lines in order to reduce intervention times in the event of dysfunction. It consists of two sets: the desk and the optical control table (TCO). The latter is divided into a traffic part which makes it possible to visualize the position of the trains on the line and the signals, and a traction part which indicates the condition of the sections and supply sub-sections in traction, under tension or out tension.

The PCC also includes two informant positions, whose mission is to notify the line agents and travelers, especially in the event of incidents. The PCC makes it possible to interact with the drivers of the trains, either through an appropriate signaling, or by high frequency telephony: scheduled departures of the terminus, online regulation, or even retention of trains in the station in the event of an incident ^{[ 18 ]} .

For the lines equipped with centralized PCC boulevard Bourdon, the maneuvers carried out at the terminus of a line, are operated by the Local maneuvers ^{[ 19 ]} .

Network CCP [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Local maneuvering stations (PML) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The local metro maneuvering stations are complex referral stations managing garages and clearances, maneuvers, and departures of the terminus of important lines or stations ^{[ 19 ]} .

In this post, a chief of maneuver and a departure chief work in complementarity with each other. The head of maneuver is responsible for managing the movements of trains to the terminus while ensuring the departure chief the shipping of the trains at the time scheduled from the corresponding terminus. The departure chief is responsible for managing the departures of the trains of his terminus while trying to maintain the schedule which corresponds to the service expected by travelers.

Computerized maneuvering stations (PMI) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Computerized maneuvering stations are intended to replace local maneuvering stations. They make it possible to manage the assignments of trains of trains, the trips of trains inside deposits and garage tracks and to control and control the various signaling equipment of these places ^{[ 33 ]} .
The first computerized maneuver position was put into service on line 11 of the metro on November 14, 2005 ^{[ 34 ]} , at the station Lilac door ^{[ 35 ]} .

Saet and automatic lines [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Jean Robert, Our metro , Editions Jean Robert, 1983, 512 p.
• RATP heritage , ed. Flohic, 1998, 400 p.
• Jean Tricoire, A century of metro in 14 lines. From Bienvenüe to Météor [Edition detail]

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