{"id":373,"date":"2024-06-24T17:56:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T16:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/?p=373"},"modified":"2024-06-24T17:56:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T16:56:40","slug":"la-petite-ceinture-de-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/06\/la-petite-ceinture-de-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"La Petite Ceinture de Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Petite
Walking along the old track of the Petite Ceinture, away from the busy surrounds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In October 2013, the BBC presented a feature on walking the line of the Paris Petite Ceinture (\u201cLittle Belt\u201d), a historical but now defunct railway route skirting the edge of the city centre.\u00a0 The feature, on its News Magazine Web site, was titled \u201cThe wild abandoned railway in the centre of Paris<\/a>\u201d and included a fascinating short video.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the video, BBC journalist Neil Meads accompanied Paris photographer Thomas Jorion<\/a>, who specialises in portraying decaying buildings, infrastructures and environments no longer in use.\u00a0 His highly atmospheric photographic approach is to reflect the \u201ctemporality\u201d of artefacts. \u00a0He has researched and documented the line since 1996 and refers to it today as \u201cthe forgotten line<\/a>\u201d in Paris.<\/p>\n

Petite Ceinture Background<\/h2>\n
\"\"
The circular route of the Petite Ceinture encircles much of the centre of Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Petite Ceinture largely maintains a path parallel with the Paris P\u00e9riph\u00e9rique (inner ring road) and is mainly separated from street level, i.e. it passes above and below the streets of the city.\u00a0 At one time it completely encircled inner Paris but the railway now only survives from Batignolles, via Est Ceinture and La Rap\u00e9e Bercy, to Point du Jour – about three quarters of the original route.<\/p>\n

Almost 50 years before the Paris Metro started, the [steam] trains of Petite Ceinture provided a convenient railway system, transporting passengers within the fortified walls of the city along a 20 miles (32 km) route.\u00a0 The Petite Ceinture originally had 29 stations and provided a means to connect the six major Paris railway termini (Gare Saint-Lazare, Gare du Nord, Gare De L\u2019est, Gare de Lyon, Gare D\u2019Austerlitz and Gare Montparnasse).<\/p>\n

The first passenger service started in 1852 and operated until 1934. The system was abandoned following gradual decline in the early 1930s, caused by 1920\/30s expansions of the Paris underground Metro system.<\/p>\n

Petite Ceinture Today<\/h2>\n

The tracks of Petite Ceinture are largely inconspicuous along the remaining 14 miles (23 km) of the route; unseen against the backcloth of the busy Paris environment. However, cuttings, bridges, extensive tunnels, and even the railway tracks, remain remarkably untouched and are virtually hidden away from the neighbourhood streets. Of the original 29 stations, 17 now remain and there are 10 tunnels.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lupins along the track bed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Flora and fauna have slowly regained possession in the spaces, which provide a safe haven for animals and the spread of a variety of wild flowers.\u00a0 The route is also adorned with colourful graffiti and street art.<\/p>\n

In 2008, a part of the line between Porte d\u2019Auteuil and Gare de la Muette was opened up, to serve as a nature trail for pedestrians. However, whilst the remainder was officially off limits to the public, many people still explored these other parts – not surprising, given that a tunnel on the abandoned line apparently has a small entrance to the Paris Catacombs in one of its walls!<\/p>\n

\"Tunnel
Modern grafiti has gradually subsumed the closed tunnel entrance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Enthusiasts describe the railway as a quiet, natural garden\u00a0\u00a0 space within Paris. The future of the undeveloped and decaying infrastructure has more recently been the subject of much debate and argument, as people rightly regard the Petite Ceinture as part of France’s national heritage embracing a bygone railway era.There have been plans to refurbish stations, to be used as shops, cafes or bars, and there are groups who simply want to protect the abandoned railway and stations and have the route dedicated for pedestrian use – three sections have been identified as green walks.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of articles about this historical and fascinating system. If you want to get a visual insight, you can easily find some useful YouTube<\/a> videos.<\/p>\n

Other Information<\/h2>\n

The Paris Tourist Office<\/a> provides some information about the railway.\u00a0 Equally, some useful current background to recent developments can be found in blogs, e.g. La Petite Ceinture and Walks around Paris<\/a>, which also provides additional links about the railway (tip: click on any seemingly dead picture links to view the image gallery).\u00a0 Also, try this link for archive images of the stations and route map<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For pictorial views I checked out the photographer Thomas Jorion<\/a> and also found Anthony Hamboussi<\/a>. Also, try searching other blogs\/features, e.g. petiteceinture.org<\/a>, Atlas Obscura<\/a>.\u00a0 The Open Street Map provides excellent and interesting geographical data of locations along the route<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In October 2013, the BBC presented a feature on walking the line of the Paris Petite Ceinture (\u201cLittle Belt\u201d), a historical but now defunct railway route skirting the edge of the city centre.\u00a0 The feature, on its News Magazine Web site, was titled \u201cThe wild abandoned railway in the centre of Paris\u201d and included a … Continue reading “La Petite Ceinture de Paris”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[26,40,39,21],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-railways","tag-heritage","tag-paris","tag-petite-ceinture","tag-railway-line"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p348Ii-61","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":227,"url":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-worlds-fastest-railway-locomotive\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":0},"title":"The World’s fastest Railway Locomotive","author":"David George","date":"01\/02\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Railway history has demonstrated the corporate fascination with speed and the development of high-speed networks across Europe, including the proposed HS2 addition to HS1 in Britain, illustrate a prevailing theme. One interesting question - which is the world's fastest railway locomotive? Some will consider the general subject of trains and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Railways"","block_context":{"text":"Railways","link":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/category\/railways\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vmax357","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/cropped-cropped-Vmax357_1216_050-521-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":416,"url":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/2015\/10\/hs2-george-osborne-urges-china-to-pitch-for-11-8bn-contracts-bbc-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":1},"title":"HS2 rail line, China and \u00a311.8bn contracts","author":"David George","date":"16\/10\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"24 September, 2015:\u00a0 BBC News reported on George Osborne\u2019s recent visit to China, where\u00a0 he urged Chinese firms to pitch for \u00a311.8bn in construction contracts for the UK's proposed HS2 rail line. \u00a0On the same day, The Guardian reported that Osborne intends to invite competition for bids at an event\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Engineering"","block_context":{"text":"Engineering","link":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/category\/engineering\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hi speed train","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hispeedtrain.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hispeedtrain.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hispeedtrain.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hispeedtrain.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84,"url":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/01\/railway-station-coffee-shops-bars-character\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":2},"title":"Railway Station Coffee Shops and Bars with Character","author":"David George","date":"16\/01\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Railway stations vary greatly in\u00a0functionality, aesthestics, and appeal; such characteristics can be exaggerated\u00a0on a cold, wind-swept\u00a0day\u00a0and even more so, when you arrive either too early to catch a train, or the train is delayed.\u00a0 If you're like me, the first objective will be to find a decent coffee bar\/cafe\/bar (whatever\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Railways"","block_context":{"text":"Railways","link":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/category\/railways\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Costa York","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/costa_york-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/10\/liverpool-edge-hill-station-making-railway-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":3},"title":"Liverpool Edge Hill Station making Railway History","author":"David George","date":"22\/10\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Railways, as we understand them, have been around for the best part of two centuries. The world's first \u201cmodern\u201d railway system was engineered by George Stephenson and used flange wheeled, self-propelled [steam] trains operating on nowadays traditional railway tracks. The railway connected the industrial cities of Liverpool and Manchester and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Engineering"","block_context":{"text":"Engineering","link":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/category\/engineering\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"0-8-0 hauled freight train from Wapping Goods station","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/crown_str_mdelamar7-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":241,"url":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/01\/live-sbb-trains-map-swiss-railway-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":4},"title":"Live SBB Trains Map – Swiss Railway System","author":"David George","date":"24\/01\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Swiss Railway (SBB) system is one of the most intensive in the world and it used to be possible to view a\u00a0real-time Live Trains Map of the SBB, complete with train identification and train search functionality? \u00a0Unfortunately, as you will by now have found, it longer seems to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Computing","link":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/category\/computing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Swiss Live Trains map","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swiss-live-trains-map-1024x664.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swiss-live-trains-map-1024x664.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swiss-live-trains-map-1024x664.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1,"url":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/01\/webtrain-savvy-invitation\/","url_meta":{"origin":373,"position":5},"title":"A WebTrain Savvy Invitation","author":"David George","date":"11\/01\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome - I extend an invitation to you to join in the WebTrain Savvy railway blog: a new place to talk about what is important to people - in the world of the Web\u00a0and the world of Trains (especially anything remotely train related).\u00a0 The blog also forms part of my\u00a0\"TheWebTrain\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":717,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewebtrain.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}