The large passenger hall of Paris-Austerlitz station and its completely renovated glass roof were inaugurated on Wednesday after six years of work.
The general director of SNCF Gares et Connexions Marlène Dolveck and the representatives of the companies which carried out the renovation celebrated this
“architectural and technical feat”
under a few drops of rain despite the 15,000 m² of glass roofs finally renovated above their heads .
The project
“required the installation of the largest scaffolding in the world, covering an area of 12,000 m² and weighing 3,000 tonnes”
, detailed Marlène Dolveck, general director of SNCF Gares et Connexions, an attached company, at a press conference. at SNCF Réseau responsible for managing passenger stations.
The dismantling of the scaffolding began in June 2023, after five years of work.
Projects delivered for the Olympics
A large part of the building still needs to be modernized for 2027, but according to Stéphane Lerendu, executive director of major projects, certain projects are about to be delivered for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the simplification of connections between the RER C and the metro 10 with the installation of elevators, the creation of hundreds of parking spaces for bicycles, the installation of new reception areas, shops and restaurants.
It is the most ambitious rehabilitation project currently among all the major Parisian stations.
Built in the 1860s, Austerlitz was for a long time an important station in the capital before gradually declining in favor of others like Montparnasse, particularly with the arrival of high-speed trains in the 1980s.
The highlight of this rehabilitation, the installation of a zeppelin-shaped building inside the large hall to accommodate a restaurant or shops, a nod to the origins of the building which hosted military balloons and observation during the war between France and Prussia in 1870.