No need to rush, even before the end of the concerts or encores, to catch the last metro. During the night from this Friday to this Saturday, some of them will run continuously! For the 2024 Music Festival, Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) has asked the operators RATP and Transilien SNCF to renew the nighttime opening system for the most “structuring” lines already put in place during previous editions .
In detail, four RER lines (A, B, C and D), six metro lines (1, 2, 4, 6, 9 and 14) and six commuter train lines (H, J, L, N , P and R) will continue to welcome travelers well after the normal end of service time (1:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays on the RATP network) and will run without interruption until the morning.
This “exceptional” transport plan is almost identical to those which had been organized for June 21, 2023 or for New Year’s Eve. Some changes should nevertheless be noted, in particular on the metro network where certain closures linked to the installation of the Olympic sites have already taken place. This is the case of Concorde station, on line 1, closed until the end of the Paralympic Games at the beginning of September… and which will obviously not be reopened during the night of June 21 to 22.
Automatic line 4 instead of line 5
Another major change: line 5 (Bobigny/Place-d’Italie) which remained open all night during previous Music Festivals is no longer included in the exceptional system this year. It is replaced by line 4 (Porte-de-Clignancourt/Bagneux – Lucie-Aubrac), which has been fully automated since the start of the year and whose opening hours can now be extended more easily than on lines with drivers.
With the exception of these modifications, those accustomed to late returns from the Fête de la Musique by public transport can rely on the exceptional transport plan from previous editions. But keep in mind that “night” trains or trains will not serve all the stations on the lines concerned.
In the metro, only line 14 will be fully open, from Olympiades to Mairie-de-Saint-Ouen. On other lines, trains will only stop at the most important stations. Same principle for the RER which will serve all stops in Paris itself but only the main stations outside the capital. On the Transilien network, only 36 stations will be served during the night.
A special package for the night
Also be careful not to get “trapped” by the passage interval between two trains which will be much longer during the night of the Fête de la Musique than during usual opening hours. The RER will run at the rate of one train every 18 minutes in inner Paris, one train every 35 minutes in the inner suburbs and one train per hour only for the ends of the line. On the Transilien network, the passage intervals (in the Paris Suburbs direction) will range from 30 minutes for the best-equipped lines to… several hours for others like line L where only 3 trains are scheduled for the entire night.
Night transport services will be freely accessible to all Navigo subscription holders. Others, at least those who plan to make several trips during the night, can obtain the special “Music Festival” package put in place by IDFM. Worth 4 euros, it will allow unlimited travel on the network, from Friday from 5 p.m. until the next day at 7 a.m.
