Auber (Paris RER)

Auber
RER station
Owned by	RATP
Line(s)
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	23 November 1971
Services
Preceding station   RER   Following station Charles de Gaulle - Étoile toward Saint Germain-en-Laye, Cergy-le-Haut or Poissy Châtelet – Les Halles toward Boissy-Saint-Léger or Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy Connections to other stations Preceding station   RER   Following station Terminus Transfer at: Haussmann - Saint-Lazare Magenta toward Chelles-Gournay or Tournan Paris Métro Saint-Lazare toward Pont de Levallois - Bécon Transfer at: Havre - Caumartin Opéra toward Gallieni Pyramides toward Villejuif - Louis Aragon or Mairie d'Ivry Transfer at: Opéra Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette toward La Courneuve - 8 Mai 1945 Madeleine toward Balard Transfer at: Opéra Richelieu - Drouot toward Créteil - Pointe du Lac Saint-Augustin toward Pont de Sèvres Transfer at: Havre - Caumartin Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette toward Mairie de Montreuil Madeleine toward Mairie d'Issy Transfer at: Saint-Lazare Trinité - d'Estienne d'Orves toward Front Populaire Miromesnil toward Châtillon – Montrouge Transfer at: Saint-Lazare Liège toward Asnières – Gennevilliers – Les Courtilles or Saint-Denis – Université Terminus Transfer at: Saint-Lazare Madeleine toward Olympiades

Auber (French pronunciation: ​[obɛːʁ]) is a station on Line A of the RER in Paris, France. Opened on 23 November 1971 it was at the time the largest underground station in the world, and represents a feat of underground engineering.

The station comprises a main train hall with a superposed ticket hall, together with an extensive network of particularly spacious tunnels connecting to the neighbouring métro stations Opéra, Havre-Caumartin and Saint-Lazare, as well as Haussmann - Saint-Lazare on the RER Line E.

It takes its name from the rue Auber, under which it is situated. This street is in turn named after the 19th-century composer Daniel-François-Esprit Auber.

Engineering

Auber is built in the style of the traditional vaulted métro station as pioneered by Fulgence Bienvenüe, with central tracks and lateral platforms. The difference in engineering terms is that Auber (along with Charles de Gaulle - Étoile and Nation stations) was constructed at depth, entirely underground, and on a far larger scale than any métro station.

In order to build the 225‑m-long, 24‑m-wide train hall and its even more immense piggy-backing ticket hall, it was necessary to excavate a cavity 40 m wide, 20 m high and 250 m long—and this 30 m underneath the busy city centre in unstable waterlogged sedimentary rock.^[1] The resulting station is cathedral-like in proportions, with a ticket hall so spacious that there is room for a mezzanine. The entire construction is waterproofed on both sides by a 7‑m-thick, 10‑m-high abutment of concrete which contains escalators linking the two levels.^[2]

The station's eccentrically audacious scale and damp setting earned it references as "the world's largest submarine". With the other two deep single-vaulted stations on the RER Line A it has been retrospectively criticised on cost grounds, and in 2007 was in need of modernisation. However, Auber seems a good example of a planning policy attached to grand public spaces that was particularly current in the 1960s and in France.

Miscellany

Auber forms part of a complex of connected underground stations (see below). Due to the scale of Auber in particular, this ensemble can perhaps claim to be the largest underground station in the world in terms of volume.

At busy periods, PM10 particle pollution caused by train braking regularly reaches 400 µg/m3 at Auber,^[3] eight times the EU Commission's daily average limit.^[4]

Gallery

• 

  Ticket hall of Auber

• 

  Ticket hall of Auber

• 

  Main hall

Connected stations

• Haussmann - St-Lazare
  • RER Line E
• Havre-Caumartin
  • Metro Line 3
  • Metro Line 9
• Opéra (Metro)
  • Metro Line 3
  • Metro Line 7
  • Metro Line 8
• Saint-Augustin
  • Metro Line 9
• Saint-Lazare
  • Metro Line 3
  • Metro Line 12
  • Metro Line 13
  • Metro Line 14
• Saint-Lazare (SNCF)

See also

• List of stations of the Paris RER
• List of stations of the Paris Métro

References

1. Gerondeau C, 2003, p 33
2. Gerondeau C, 2003, p 158
3. http://data.ratp.fr/fr/les-donnees.html
4. EU Directives 1999/30/EC and 96/62/EC

Bibliography

• Gerondeau, C. (2003). La Saga du RER et le maillon manquant, Paris: Presse de l'École nationale des ponts et chaussées. ISBN 2-85978-368-7. (French)

Coordinates: 48°52′23″N 2°19′44″E / 48.873°N 2.329°E