Four red and white barriers still block, Thursday afternoon, the entrance to Mairie de Saint-Ouen station, on metro line 14.
But future users are already ready to enter.
Some ask: "Is it good, is it open?"
When does it open?
"" I have rarely seen such a wait, people keep coming to see us, asking us how the new trains will be, blows a RATP official on a cigarette break.
For a lot of people, it will change their life.
"
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Thanks to the extension of metro line 14, we will finally breathe on the 13
Originally hoped for in 2017, then postponed many times, it is this Monday afternoon that the long-awaited station, which will connect Saint-Ouen to Châtelet and the center of Paris in fifteen minutes, will be officially put in service.
"It will free line 13!"
enthuses Jean-Jacques, a 68-year-old retiree.
In addition, line 14 is reliable, it's automatic, it's fast… ”“ And precisely when there are strikes, it will work, that's important ”, dares an RATP agent.
Boubakri "no longer wanted to take the 13"
Each pushing their stroller, Johanna, 29, and Sophie, 34, live a little further away, towards the Pleyel crossroads in Saint-Denis, where the extension is hoped for in 2024. “But that's okay, it's okay? It's not bad to have the 14 here, a fifteen-minute walk from us, ”explains the second.
"I work in Miromesnil, so it will already unload the 13 for my daily trips, hopes her neighbor.
But on weekends, I love going to the Cour Saint-Emilion side
(Editor's note: in Paris, 12th century, which has a stop on line 14).
So there it will be perfect, direct.
Now we can't wait for the restaurants to reopen!
"
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Most passers-by say they are relieved to see some of the traffic on line 13 shifting to 14. Boubakri, pizza maker from rue Emile-Cordon, facing the future metro, laughs: “Chez nous, la 13, c ' has become a running gag
(recurring joke)!
We sometimes say: here, it's armored like in the 13!
Even I don't want to take it anymore, it's horrible.
Now, to go see my accountant in Paris, I will be able to take the metro again, but with the 14. "
"A historic moment for the city"
The new mayor (PS) Karim Bouamrane was also impatiently awaiting the event.
"This will improve comfort for millions of travelers each year, even if it will not solve all the problems of line 13," he said.
It is a historic moment for the city.
With the arrival of 14, then with 15 at Carrefour Pleyel
(the opening of which is also expected in 2024),
this will give Saint-Ouen the means to fulfill its ambitions.
"
VIDEO. New line 14 stations ready to welcome their travelers
The councilor talks about all these companies that have been waiting for the new line for years, and all the city's projects that will benefit from it.
"We will have the means to achieve our ambitions to promote our city, to renovate the Bauer stadium, to accommodate the general direction of internal security
(DGSI, on the site of the former headquarters of the Parisian - Today in France, avenue Michelet),
to build one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, and for the Olympic Games to be a success.
"
The fear that the 14 will quickly become saturated
For his part, the deputy (LFI) Eric Coquerel also welcomes the opening of the new station.
"You just have to look at line 13, including during periods of confinement, to see that it is an unlivable line," he emphasizes.
That said, I am a little afraid, with the number of new inhabitants expected in Saint-Ouen and of offices which are being built, that the lines will quickly become saturated again.
"
The deputy recalls that he supported the union fight, waged for a long time, so that there are as many trains on each of the two northern branches as there are on the main section between Châtillon-Montrouge (Hauts- de-Seine) and La-Fourche (Paris XVII-XVIIIe).
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“It's been years since we should have doubled line 13, to prepare for the arrival of line 14 and prevent it from being quickly congested.
"