Paris Metro Line 10 is one of the sixteen currently open métro lines in Paris, France. The line links , in Boulogne-Billancourt, to the , traveling under the rather bourgeois neighborhoods of the Rive Gauche — the southern half of Paris — the 16th arrondissement and the neighbouring commune of Boulogne-Billancourt.
The line runs entirely underground and stretches across 23 stations. It has the least traffic of the fourteen main metro lines, excluding lines 3bis and 7bis.
Initially, the MA 51 model trains, which had previously been used on Line 13 until it absorbed former Line 14, circulated on the tracks of Line 10. These trains were first constructed with three cars on four bogies per train, and two trains permanently connected to make six cars per train, having an equivalent capacity to five cars on the classic metro trains. Because of the ineffectiveness of the MA 51 model, it was eventually completely replaced by the MF 67 model between 1988 and 1994.
The line's history is closely tied to that of lines 7, 8, and 13. A section of Line 10's route was replaced by Line 13, and Line 10 replaced part of Line 7 for more than a year, until eventually replacing the western section of Line 8 in 1937 when said line swapped termini from Porte d'Auteuil to . Consequently, Line 10 has changed the most of any other Paris métro line during its lifetime. Unlike other lines, the walls of Line 10's tunnels are painted white, creating a brightness that is unique to the ochre line.
Route and stations Line 10 measures across 23 stations and one ghost station, , located in between and , which closed in 1939 at dawn of World War II, among many others – including Cluny–La Sorbonne – yet, unlike the latter, never reopened. The route is entirely underground.
List of stations Beginning at the western terminus of Line 10, the first train that leaves the station Porte d'Auteuil heads towards the Gare d'Austerlitz, through the Auteuil Loop's turn-around track, which is then closed to passengers for the rest of the day. This allows an immediate departure at the start of the day – 5:30 AM – towards Gare d'Austerlitz, thus sparing passengers heading east from waiting until the arrival of the first train from Boulogne. SIEL, système d'information en ligne, is installed on every station of the network and gives passengers the expected time-to-arrival of the next two trains, a system that has been operational since 1 July 2008.
At the terminus Boulogne – Pont de Saint-Cloud (Rhin et Danube), because of the proximity to the Seine river west, there are no tracks behind the station to allow the train to reverse directions. Instead, trains are received alternately on each side of the platform, and leave directly in the opposite direction. Due to the rue du Château's narrowness, under which line 10 passes, the stations Boulogne – Pont de Saint-Cloud (Rhin et Danube) and Boulogne – Jean Jaurès have only one central platform used for both directions. After the latter station, tracks run for to reconnect trains to the Auteuil loop. Trains headed towards Austerlitz must successively dive under the Boulevard Périphérique, followed by the platforms for the connections to Auteuil Workshops and Voie Murat before ascending back to service the station Michel – Ange – Molitor on its southern platform. In order to achieve this, ramps reaching a descent of up to a 40‰ grade are used. Tracks 2 (towards Boulogne) are separated by the loop on the level of the avenue du Général Sarrail with a bend and a slope of 40‰.
The loop to Auteuil is situated in the neighborhood of Auteuil: tracks 1 and 3 of the loop border the central platform of Miche-Ange – Molitor. Afterwards, they pass under the rails of line 9, until merging at the arrival to the single-platform Chardon-Lagache and Mirabeau stations, the latter where both directions connect back towards Austerlitz.
Tracks 2, coming from Austerlitz, follow a very peculiar profile and enter yet do not service the station Mirabeau, instead crossing behind it on top of a sharp ramp due to the great depth of the line after traversing the Seine. Furthermore, in order to reach the station Église d'Auteuil, the trains must climb even higher, very close to the station's foundation. Following this, tracks 2 of the line pass above tracks of line 9 and arrive at the southern platform of station Michel-Ange – Auteuil, while the northern one comes from a connection with line 9. Arriving at Porte d'Auteuil, the tracks separate to form the complex knot of tracks that head towards Boulogne, the Auteuil Workshops, the Voie Murat towards Porte Molitor and Porte de Saint-Cloud, or along the Autuil loop back towards Michel-Ange – Molitor.
After the station Mirabeau, the line crosses the Seine via an underwater tunnel and reaches the station Javel–André Citroën by way of a 40‰ ramp under tracks of RER line C. Line then follows avenue Émile-Zola to enter Charles Michels – the original westbound terminus of the line – and Avenue Émile Zola, before turning under the rue du Commerce alongside line 8. When the line reaches the station La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle, the two tracks separate : trains headed east are welcomed in the central platform of the original station, alongside line 8 trains headed east to Créteil, while trains headed to Boulogne service an adjacent half station located above the remaining platform, line 8 trains to Balard. After this complex knot caused by the line switch of 1937, line 10 trains enter the Rapp intake before arriving at the station Ségur. Line 10 then connects back to another of its original sections, the stations Duroc, Vaneau and Sèvres – Babylone, which were part of an early attempt at a subway rocade inside of Paris. Line 10 continues eastward through the ghost station Croix-Rouge, then Mabillon, under the station Saint-Germain-des-Prés on line 4.
From there on the route of line 10 becomes complicated as it must pass above line 4 to serve its next station, Odéon. The two tracks part right outside Odéon in order to yield passage to the connection tracks to Line 4, that level off at the station Cluny – La Sorbonne. The connection tracks rejoin the other tracks of line 10 right at the western entrance to the station Maubert–Mutualité... before splitting again right out its eastern entrance, this time to connect to line 7 underneath the station Cardinal Lemoine. Line 10 then turns a sharp left under the eponymous street, turning right to reach the station Jussieu alongside lines 7, their platforms side by side. Both lines bend left towards the Seine, yet line 10 follows with a sharp right under the Jardin des plantes to reach its current eastbound terminus, Gare d'Austerlitz. The arrival is situated under the arrivals hall of the train station on the surface, and the parking tracks are under the railroad tracks.
Split section of line 10
Line 10 has separate eastbound and westbound sections between Boulogne–Jean Jaurès station (west) and Javel–André Citroën station. Both sections run side by side between Javel–André Citroën station and Mirabeau, but the Mirabeau station is only served by eastbound trains. Westbound trains pass through Mirabeau on an inclined ramp behind the eastbound tracks. +Train DirectionsStations← Heading West, to Boulogne – Pont de Saint-Cloud ←Boulogne–Pont de Saint-Cloud← Porte d'Auteuil ←← Michel-Ange–Auteuil ←← Église d'Auteuil ←← Mirabeau ← → Mirabeau →Javel–André Citroën→ Heading East, to Gare d'Austerlitz →→ ↳ → → →→ Michel-Ange–Molitor →→ Chardon Lagache →
The separate sections were once part of a loop that returned westgoing trains to Javel–André Citroën. After Porte d'Auteuil (last station on the westbound section) the trains turned round to Michel-Ange–Molitor (first station on the eastbound section). When the line was extended towards Boulogne, the section was no longer operated as a loop, with only one departure per day – the earliest one – carrying on for earlier first departure back to Austerlitz.
Porte d'Auteuil is also connected with Porte de Saint-Cloud of line 9. This connection is called "voie Murat" and serves the ghost station Porte Molitor. Initial plans for the station was to connect a shuttle train to serve the Parc des Princes football stadium on match days and for special events, but plans were eventually discarded and pedestrian accesses to the station were never constructed. Westbound trains on line 10 (terminating at Porte d'Auteuil) can be re-routed to line 9, starting eastbound at Porte de Saint-Cloud via the "voie Murat" connection. This option is used after events at Parc des Princes when Line 9 is used by unusually many people.
On the same section, are located the access tracks heading towards the Auteuil workshops, where the Line 10 trains are stored and kept for maintenance.
Renamed stations Five stations on line 10 have changed names of the course of the years: La Motte-Picquet became La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle in November 1913; Wilhem became Église d'Auteuil on 15 May 1921; Beaugrenelle became Charles Michels on 14 July 1945; Gare d'Orléans – Austerlitz became Gare d'Austerlitz in 1979; Cluny became Cluny – La Sorbonne on 17 February 1988.
Themed and otherwise unique stations
Some stations on the line are decorated with a particular cultural theme in mind:
The station Javel – André Citroën presents the life and enterprise of André Citroën with the use of placards and photographs. The seats of the station use the colors of the celebrated logo composed of chevrons, inspired by gears constructed in 1905. These decorations, however, were removed during the 2000s in light the renovation project "Renouveau du Métro". The halls and corridors of the station La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle are decorated with various coats of arms of the Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte family (blue with three golden chevrons, accompanied by three silver arrowheads). A fresco represents the barrière de la Cunette, one of the doors of the Wall of the Farmers-General once situated where the station is now. The station Sèvres – Babylone contains an exposition of ecology, with showcases on recycling, renewable energy or water consumption and electricity consumption in the world. In 2008, these windows were renovated with signs giving specific information on the initiatives of Grenelle Environnement. The ceiling of the station Cluny – La Sorbonne is decorated with mosaics and signatures of famous writers such as Racine, Molière, Michelet, Victor Hugo, and Rimbaud among others, all of which were once students at the nearby eponymous university.
Junctions
The line contains six transfer junctions with other lines of the network: with line 9 via Voie Murat and the depots located to the southwest of the station Porte d'Auteuil on the tracks of the old entrance that are no longer used in commercial service; with line 9 at the entrance to the station Michel-Ange – Auteuil towards Boulogne : This transfer track links line 9 heading to Pont de Sèvres to the closed-off northern platform of Line 10's Michel-Ange – Auteuil. with line 8 at the entrance to the station La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle, on the tracks heading towards Boulogne; a tunnel without an intersection exists towards line 13, between the stations of Duroc and Vaneau; it dates back to the old route of line 10 towards Invalides; with line 4 via a dead end in the east of the station Odéon, but intersecting in actuality at the east of the station Cluny – La Sorbonne after having traveled to the center of the station without bordering a platform; the intersection occurs between the two tracks of line 10 at the station Cluny – La Sorbonne where three tracks form but are then combined into the two of line 10; with line 7 at the exit of Maubert – Mutualité towards Gare d'Austerlitz; this two-track connection, used commercially between 1930 and 1931 when line 10 was headed to Porte de Choisy, is separated from line 10 by a strong slope between the two rails.
Depots