Paris Metro Line 14 (French: Ligne 14 du métro de Paris) is one of the sixteen lines currently open on the Paris Métro. It connects and Aéroport d'Orly on a northwest–southeast diagonal via the three major stations of Gare Saint-Lazare, the Châtelet–Les-Halles complex, and Gare de Lyon. The line goes through the centre of Paris and also serves the communes of Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Clichy, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, Gentilly, Villejuif, Chevilly-Larue, L'Haÿ-les-Roses, Thiais and Paray-Vieille-Poste.
The first Paris Métro line built from scratch since the 1930s, line 14 has been operated completely automatically since its opening in 1998, and the very positive return of that experiment motivated the retrofitting of Line 1 for full automation. Before the start of its commercial service Line 14 was known as project Météor, an acronym for MÉTro Est-Ouest Rapide.
The line has been used as a showcase for the expertise of the RATP (the operator), Alstom, Systra and Siemens Mobility (constructors of the rolling stock and automated equipment respectively) when they bid internationally to build metro systems.
A northward extension to Mairie de Saint-Ouen opened in December 2020. The line extended further north to and south to Aéroport d'Orly, as part of the Grand Paris Express project, on 24 June 2024. Those extensions made Line 14 the longest in the Métro, at 27.8 km of length. As of Fall 2025, it is the busiest line of the Paris Metro, carrying around 820,000 riders per weekday.
Chronology 1983: RER A, which was built to desaturate Métro Line 1, also comes to saturation. A new line on the West ↔ East axis is needed. 1987: RATP and SNCF each coin new route projects to desaturate Lines 1 and A : SNCF coins project ÉOLE, an RER axis connecting the Paris-Est suburban network to Saint-Lazare with an upcoming extension westbound towards La Défense, RATP coins project MÉTEOR – a subway line connecting Porte Maillot to Porte d'Ivry alongside RER A – 1989: French Government validates ÉOLE straightaway, and sends RATP back to the drawing board. October 1989: French Prime minister of the time, Michel Rocard, validates both projects, yet limits them to their parisian section due to budget constraints : ÉOLE is a mere tunnel from Paris-Est to Saint-Lazare with the two aforementioned stations, MÉTEOR's second project – a subway line from Saint-Lazare to Maison Blanche along the Seine, with planned extensions north to Asnières by taking over line 13's northwestern branch, and south towards Orly airport – is limited at first to Madeleine north (in order to avoid supplemental charge on Line 13) and to the brand new Bibliothèque François Mitterrand station south, with the actual Olympiades station initially used as the line's depot. September 1993: Sandrine, Météor's tunnel boring machine, starts digging. 28 September 1994: RATP reuses the immerged caissons technique, 90 years after line 4, to create Méteor's tunnel under the Seine. 26 May 1997: Météor test runs begin. 15 October 1998: Météor is inaugurated as Line 14 between Madeleine and Bibliothèque François Mitterrand. It's the first modern subway line of the Paris Métro : Driverless, with 120 meters long stations equipped with platform screen doors and full access for people with reduced mobility, all from day one. 15 February 2003: while digging the first southern extension, a kindergarten's recess courtyard collapses in Paris' 13th arrondissement, halting the digging process and causing delays. 16 December 2003: northern extension from Madeleine to Saint-Lazare opens, traffic surges by 30% 26 June 2007: first southern extension from Bibliothèque François Mitterrand to Olympiades opens, with a new workshop opened further southwest towards Maison Blanche 3 March 2014: first of eighteen MP 05 trains enters into revenue service 12 October 2020: first of thirty five MP 14 trains enters into revenue service 14 December 2020: second northern extension from Saint-Lazare to Mairie de Saint-Ouen opens, except Porte de Clichy. 28 January 2021: Porte de Clichy opens to passengers, finalising RATP's attempt to use line 14 to alleviate traffic on line 13. 13 April 2023: last runs of both MP 89 and MP 05 rolling stock on the line, the two are subsequently transferred to Line 4 24 June 2024: third northern extension from Mairie de Saint-Ouen to Saint-Denis–Pleyel opensParis Olympic transport investment complete Tramways & Urban Transit issue 1040 August 2024 page 285 24 June 2024: second southern extension from Olympiades to Aéroport d'Orly opens, except Villejuif–Gustave Roussy which is still in construction. 18 January 2025: Villejuif–Gustave Roussy opens for line 14, the line 15's platform still closed.
Development Project Météor
The original Line 14 linked Invalides with Porte de Vanves until 1976, when it was merged into the southern section of the current Line 13.
Paris's east–west axis across has long been heavily travelled: Line 1 of the Métro began approaching saturation in the 1940s, necessitating the construction of Line A of the RER in the 1960s and '70s, which became the busiest rail route in Europe (by 2010 there were more than a million passengers each working day). To improve service capacity, the SACEM (Système d'aide à la conduite, à l'exploitation et à la maintenance —"Assisted driving, control and maintenance system") was installed on the central run of Line A in September 1989. This improved efficiency and reduced the interval between trains to just two minutes, yet proved ultimately insufficient to absorb the increasing demand. To cater permanently to demand on the busy artery between and Gare de Lyon new rail lines would have to be built.
Two proposals were made by French transport companies: the SNCF (national rail and RER operator) suggested a new tunnel between Châtelet and Gare de Lyon for Line D of the RER, which until then was limited to Châtelet. But more importantly it proposed "Project EOLE" ("Est-Ouest Liaison Express"), the creation of a new standard gauge line, initially from Paris's eastern suburbs to Saint-Lazare, with an extension to the western suburbs in mind as the Saint-Lazare RER E station is oriented towards the west instead of towards the station's rail yards up north.
In 1987, the RATP proposed "project Météor", ("Métro Est-Ouest Rapide"), the creation of a new Métro line from Porte Maillot on the edge of the 16th arrondissement to the Maison Blanche district in the 13th, an area poorly served by transport despite its large population. The project would fit well with the regeneration of the Tolbiac district on the left bank around the new Bibliothèque Nationale de France, in that arrondissement. But RATP's project was initially rejected by the French government.
The plans to go to Porte Maillot were eventually abandoned in favour of a terminus at Saint-Lazare, with the later possibility of extending the line to Clichy and assimilating the Asnières branch of Line 13, thus simplifying its complicated operation.
Given the pressing need, the council of Ministers of Michel Rocard's government approved the projects in October 1989. However, budgetary constraints forced the reduction of both. In the first stage, EOLE would be but a simple extension of trains from the suburbs to the new underground station at Saint-Lazare and Météor limited to the central Madeleine—Bibliothèque run, thus leaving the main railway station of Saint-Lazare and the heart of the 13th arrondissement unserved for the time being.p. 10
Construction
From November 1989 until the end of 1992, exploratory shafts and galleries were dug; tunnelling proper lasted from July 1993 until early 1995. In September 1993, Sandrine was baptised near la Bastille; a tunnel boring machine long and wide, it was capable of drilling a tunnel across. Working twenty-four hours a day, five days a week, she bored below the water table. The terrain, made mostly of loosely packed limestone and marl was favourable to drilling and the tunnel advanced at a respectable a month. The tunnel passes underneath seven Métro lines, the sewers, Clichy-Capucines, and four underground carparks and passes over two RER lines.
Works at the site and the excavation of excavated material from the bassin de l'Arsenal were delayed two weeks by a flood of the Seine, the waterway route having been chosen to minimise heavy traffic in the city. The tunnel reached the future Pyramides station on 17 January 1995, and Madeleine on 15 March; it stopped underneath boulevard Haussmann in August and was brought to the surface through shafts there the same month.pp. 69–73
At the other end of the line, from Gare de Lyon to Tolbiac the tunnel was excavated directly from the surface. It crossed the Seine upstream from pont de Tolbiac, supported by submerged beams. The last beam was implanted on 28 September 1994.
As a cost-saving measure, the section from Gare de Lyon to the Bassin de l'Arsenal was excavated at the same time as the tunnels of Line D of the RER Châtelet–Les Halles. The of debris excavated is about twice the volume of the Tour Montparnasse, Paris's largest building; and the of steel needed for re-inforced concrete and structural support is twice the mass of the Eiffel Tower.La Vie du Rail, "Météor: Les premiers pas du métro de l'an 2000", number 2507, 9 August 1995, page 16
Incidents Travellers have been largely satisfied with Line 14's speed and service. However, despite its automation it has not been free of accidents. While the platform doors prevent access to the rails, they are susceptible to electric outages which have halted service entirely. On 20 September 2004, two trains stopped entirely in the tunnel after a signalling failure."La couleur pourpre" On 22 December 2006, passengers were trapped for one and a half hours after an electrical failure on the line which arose from a mechanical failure."Les pieds dans la prise...", MétroPole, Technological failures have occurred twice: on 21 March 2007 traffic was interrupted between Gare de Lyon and Bibliothèque François Mitterrand;MétroPole – Coincé à faire un demi-tour and again on 21 August 2007 a technical failure stopped service.La ligne 14 du métro victime d'une panne informatique www.cio-online.com Retrieved 5 October 2011.
Extensions
Traffic on the line grew quickly : After five years in service, there were 240,000 daily passengers in October 2003. Retrieved 5 October 2011. That same year, service was interrupted several times to allow the installation of material for an extension north from Madeleine to Saint-Lazare. This section was opened on 16 December 2003, and the line saw a 30% increase in traffic thereafter : Saint Lazare is the most important node on the network after Gare du Nord and Châtelet.
In 2007, the line was extended south to Olympiades, an area of high rise towers in the XIIIe arrondissement poorly served by the Métro.Le Parisien, "Le métro compte une nouvelle station", 26 juin 2007 The construction of the extension was relatively simple, as the tunnel was built at the same time as the rest of the line. Initially planned to open in 2006, work was delayed by the collapse of a primary school courtyard during the night of 14–15 October 2003. , avril 2003"Une cour d'école s'effondre à Paris" , l'Humanité Since then traffic has grown again: at the end of 2007, an average of 450,000 passengers used the line on a working day. Due to its use as a train maintenance area, a new maintenance area was constructed.