Gare D’Ornano, La Recyclerie – Paris 18ème
Gare Avenue De St Ouen – Paris 18ème
Gare D’Ornano, Les Jardins du Ruisseau – Paris 18ème
Gare de Charonne – Paris 20ème
Tunnel de Belleville
Gare De Menilmontant – Paris 20ème
Gare De Menilmontant – Paris 20ème
Boulevard Ney – Paris 18ème
Boulevard Ney – Paris 18ème
La Gare – Gare de Passy-La Muette
Gare d’Est-Ceinture – Paris 18ème
Gare Rue Claude Decaen – Paris 12ème
Parc Georges-Brassens
Paris 12ème
Gare de Orléans Ceinture
Rue Regnault, Paris 13ème
Paris 14ème
Rue Giordano Bruno, Paris 14ème
Gare de la rue d’Avron – Paris 20ème
Viaduc de l’Argonne, Rue de l’Argonne – Paris 19ème
Vaugirard-Ceinture – Paris 15ème
Rue Raymond Losserand, Paris 14ème
Rue Giordano Bruno, Paris 14ème
Rue Regnault, Paris 13ème
Paris 17ème
Canal de L’Ourcq – Paris 19ème
Viaduc de l’Argonne – Paris 19ème
Gare de Charonne – Paris 20ème
Parc Montsouris – Paris 14ème
Gare Avenue De St Ouen – Paris 18ème
Rue Manin – Paris 19ème
Rue du Volga – Paris 20ème
Viaduc de l’Argonne – Paris 19ème
Caviar Society, Gare de Charonne, Paris 20eme
La Gare – Gare de Passy-La Muette
Gare de la rue d’Avron – Paris 20ème
Cours de Vincennes – Paris 12ème
Rue Regnault, Paris 13ème
Rue des Longues Raies – Paris 13ème
Boulevard de Beauséjour – Paris 16ème
La Gare – Gare de Passy-La Muette
Gare de la rue d’Avron – Paris 20ème
Rue Barbanègre – Paris 19ème
Gare de Charonne – Paris 20ème
Gare du boulevard Masséna, Paris 13ème
Gare D’Ornano, Les Jardins du Ruisseau – Paris 18ème
La Recyclerie former Gare D’Ornano Paris 18ème
When I lived in Paris in the late 1990s, I chanced one day upon a train sitting on the tracks at the bottom of my street. I’d passed these empty tracks many times before so was surprised to see a train waiting to embark its passengers, so I took a ride for a few kilometres. I was unaware then that I was travelling on a railway line that follows a circular route within the old fortifications of Paris.
La Petite Ceinture (little belt) was built between the 1850s and 1870s to connect the main railway stations of Paris. Designed to carry passengers and freight, it soon become the first metro in Paris, but from 1900 onwards, with the first modern metro lines built, passenger numbers declined and in 1934 the line was closed to passengers. By the early 1990s freight traffic too had also largely ceased. Apart from a few sections that have been transformed into public parks, most remain a landscape in limbo – a secret (or not so secret) route around the city.
I first started exploring the line almost a decade ago, when public access was prohibited apart from a few sections turned into public parks, but you could always find a way in, and Parisians occupied the space as if it were a public park. Several former stations have become cafes and restaurants and one of the former platforms has been turned into a public garden. In recent years more public spaces have been launched and more access points opened as it has become clear that Parisians have embraced this green line around their city.
As a landscape in limbo, it provides a place of residence for the homeless, a canvas for public art and a biodiversity corridor in the city. During my various visits I’ve come across groups walking the tracks and negotiating the long tunnels along the route, just like they would in any other park.
While it’s no longer possible to walk a continuous path along the line you can travel from the Northeast to the Southeast, without leaving the tracks – negotiating tunnels, stepping along the viaducts raised above the street that offer an elevated view – and then descending into the undergrowth that has reclaimed the tracks. Despite the appearance of being abandoned however, the railway remains part of the French National Railway, so a not so silent line after all.
This wild city thoroughfare presents a distinct urban experience – It’s the wild and overgrown sections that offer a more unique experience than the sanitised public parks that have been carved out of the tracks in the southwest of Paris. La Petite Ceinture remains an enduring presence in the city.
To find out more about the Chemin de Fer de Ceinture, its history and current status, you should visit the website of the Association Sauvegarde Petite Ceinture. The association was established in the 1990s to safeguard the history of the line and to protect its future uses.
