Gare de l'Est
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- For the Paris Métro stop at the Gare de l'Est SNCF train station, please click here.
The Gare de l'Est is one of the six large termini of the SNCF network at Paris. It is located in the Xe arrondissement, not far from the Gare du Nord, facing the boulevard du Strasbourg, part of the north-south axis of Paris created by Baron Haussmann. It is the largest and the oldest railway station in Paris.
About 34 million passengers pass through the Gare de l'Est per year, making it the fifth-busiest station in Paris. Since the creation of the RER E, it has become less congested, but it may become busier once again with the start of TGV-Est service in 2007. Currently, the station (as well as the stations of other cities that its trains serve) is undergoing renovation work in order to accommodate the new TGV line.
At the top of the west façade of the Gare de l'Est is a statue by the sculptor Philippe-Joseph-Henri Lemaire, representing the city of Strasbourg, while the east end of the station is crowned by a statue personifying Verdun, a work of the sculptor Varenne. These two cities are important destinations on the rail network serviced by trains departing from the Gare de l'Est.
History
The Gare de l'Est was opened in 1849 by the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Paris à Strasbourg (in English: The Paris-Strasbourg Railway Company), under the name "Strasbourg platform." This platform corresponds today with the hall of the mainline trains, and was designed originally by the architect François Duquesney. It was renamed the "Gare de l'Est" in 1854, after the first expansion of service by the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Strasbourg to a new line to Mulhouse, for which it had obtained a concession.
Further important renovations to the station followed in 1885 and 1900. Then, in 1931, it was doubled in size, with the new part of the station built perfectly symmetrically to the old part. This transformation entailed, not surprisingly, a profound modification in the surrounding neighborhood.
On 4 October 1883, the Gare de l'Est was the site of the first departure of the Orient Express for Istanbul.
This station, the head of a strategic railway network extending towards the eastern part of France, was also one of the sites of the large mobilizations of French troops, most notably in 1914, at the beginning of the World War I. In the mainline train hall, a monumental painting by Alfred Herter, dating from 1926, illustrates the departure of these soldiers for the Western front.
Transport
- SNCF:
- International service to Luxembourg, Germany and Central Europe via the Orient Express.
- Mainline trains servicing the eastern regions of France of Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine, Alsace.
- TER service to Champagne-Ardenne.
- Métro:
- Lines 4 (Porte de Clignancourt--Porte d'Orléans) and 5 (Place d'Italie--Bobigny-Pablo Picasso): service to the Gare du Nord.
- Line 7 (La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945--Mairie d'Ivry/Villejuif-Louis Aragon)de:Gare de l'Est