It takes as many workers to assemble this concrete cathedral as it will eventually take to run and maintain the trains of line 15 of the Grand Paris Express on site.
Entering the site of the future train operation and maintenance center means quickly running out of superlatives as the site is so gigantic.
Two hundred people and about fifty supervisors work every day to create in Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne) this future place of maintenance of the trains of line 15, but also the centralized command post of 'where the automatic trains will be guided.
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Metro du Grand Paris: nothing can stop the "construction site of the century"
On this land of nearly 10 hectares, a stone's throw from the Grand Leclerc de Champigny and the Armoiries area, the largest industrial site necessary for the Grand Paris Express is being built.
A site such that it was necessary to permanently close a street, create a new one and now divert the one that passes between the site and the part of the Plateau park on which the very first tunnel boring machine of the Grand Paris Express was dug.
All motorists who know the area have seen that behind the huge palisades, the place begins to come to life.
It is difficult even to remember the old warehouses that had to be destroyed in 2016. The framework of the future site is now standing and will have required 60,000 cubic meters of concrete!
The two floors of the future line command post were created.
It will then be necessary to install a wall of screens and many workstations there since it is here that the whole of line 15 will be controlled. The subways being automatic, the "brain" of the line, it will be Champigny.
"In all, more than 200 people will work on this site, taking turns 24 hours a day," projects Philippe Rivière, deputy project manager for line 15 south.
The place will be operational in 2024 and will actively participate in the first tests [of the metro].
»First delivery of trains to Champigny scheduled for 2023. In the meantime, an overview of this future key location.
The train maintenance hall
Champigny, Thursday March 18.
A huge hangar, which will have 19 tracks built in parallel with each other, has just been covered.
/ LP / Laure Parny
It is also here that trains and stations will be monitored.
A team of firefighters will always be on the alert on site.
And the operators will in particular order the subways to park in the second building on the site.
A huge hangar, with 19 tracks built in parallel with each other, has just been covered.
It will be able to accommodate up to 70 trains!
Pits will allow work on the oars.
A cleaning space for the interior and exterior of trains is also under construction.
“Watch out for you, we'll stop there!
»The deposit does not leave a choice.
Huge metal beams are lifted from the ground and placed on the roof of the future maintenance hall.
A little further on, a worker spreads cement with the strength of his arms.
Even on such an imposing site, many tasks are carried out by hand by Journeymen, some of whom benefit from integration contracts.
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Before arriving in this future hall, the metro line 15 must be inserted from the two tracks that have been dug between the Plateau park and the Villiers-sur-Marne site, 2.4 kilometers away.
"We still have to connect the operations center with the tunnel, after having carried out a mole earthworks and extracting tons of earth," explains Bruno Guillery, quality, safety and environment manager on the project, with our feet in the sticky clay that still covers the floor of future buildings.
By autumn, the hall and the tunnel will be connected under the rue de Bernaü.
"
Under the largest green roof in Europe
Architect's view of the future green roof.
/ Architect Richez Associates
Here, the sloping ground for the future operation and maintenance center has been transformed into a real asset by the architects.
The site was ideal, according to them, to create a half-buried building covered with a green roof.
But considering the size of the building, it's not just a few blades of grass that are expected!
The entire arrival of the subways from the line to the parking lot of the trains will be covered by the green roof, the largest in Europe according to the architectural firm Richez Associés, who designed it.
The workers who are already starting to prepare the two-hectare roof which will be covered with earth appear tiny on the site because the platform is so wide.
Under this roof will be the railway beam which allows passage from the two tunnel tracks to the nineteen in the center of Champigny.
The base of the roof is laid
Champigny, Thursday March 18.
This is what the future roof looks like for the moment.
/ LP / Laure Parny
Discussions have started between the Société du Grand Paris and the departmental council of Val-de-Marne to decide on the future use of this green space.
Initially, the installation of an organic market gardener was especially imagined.
Val-de-Marne will host a second industrial site for the management of the metro.
The infrastructure maintenance site is under construction at Les Ardoines, in Vitry.