Paris: justice confirms the end of hostilities surrounding the aborted transformation of the Gare du Nord

The Paris Administrative Court of Appeal formally closed the legal dispute which was born around the “transformation” project of the Gare du Nord, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, now abandoned to make way for a more modest project.

An XXL project at Gare du Nord

As a reminder, on March 16, 2020, the general director of SNCF Gares et Connexions, the subsidiary of the SNCF group dedicated to “auxiliary services for land transport”, signed a “project declaration” in order to carry out the “transformation of the Station North “. A building permit was subsequently issued three months later, in July 2020.

But the “Gare du Nord – La Chapelle Residents’ Committee” and the “Collective Let’s Find the North of the Gare du Nord” had not heard it that way and had taken legal action: this project was going to aggravate “the difficulties capacity of the Gare du Nord” and did not meet “any objective of general interest”. It would cause “worsening environmental and health nuisances” and “damage the monumental perspectives” of the station, its opponents were convinced.

The “Paris Gare du Nord 2024” project consisted of creating “a floor area” of nearly 62,000 m² on the station site by creating “a new main line departure terminal” at numbers 14 and 16 of the rue of Dunkirk, to restructure the “Transmanche” terminal and deconstruct the “halls overlooking the exchange hall”. The creation of “three footbridges” to access the tracks from the basement were also in the plans of the public limited company (SA) Gare du Nord 2024, created for the occasion.

A definitive abandonment of the project

The project also planned to create “five levels of superstructures” above the departures terminal to accommodate “commercial, cultural, sporting and co-working activities” and even “hanging gardens”.

The bus station was to be redeveloped into an “Eco bus station” with bicycle parking for 1,000 spaces and “200 soft mobility spaces”. “Urban logistics equipment”, “the expansion of the waste platform” located at 39, boulevard de La Chapelle and “the adaptation of the Résidence hôtelière du rail (…) to fire safety requirements” were also in the boxes.

The fact remains that “the project (…) was abandoned after the appeal was filed”, notes the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal in a judgment dated February 1, 2024 which has just been made public.

This abandonment had been “announced in the press on September 21, 2021” and is now “final”, SNCF Gares et Connexions (SNCF G&C) had effectively informed him. The company therefore deplored the “behavior” of the Collectif Retrouvons le nord de la Gare du Nord in this matter: it had been “informed” of this abandonment “from September 2021”. She therefore wanted the Paris administrative court of appeal to order him to pay her 20,000 euros for her legal fees.

A legal dispute that could have been shortened

This decision was taken “for reasons independent of SNCF G&C and without any link with the appeal initiated by the association”, she told the Parisian judges. But in response, the collective informed the court that it did not have any “document justifying the abandonment of the project”…

“It must be noted that, almost three and a half years after the filing of the (…) appeal, more than two years after the abandonment of the contested project, and since the concession contract has been terminated, the decision abandonment of the criticized project cannot be called into question in any form whatsoever,” considers the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal.

“The disputed project having been abandoned after the submission of the request presented by the association (…) and not having seen any start of execution, it has become irrelevant”, she adds. There is therefore “no longer any need to rule on it”, confirm the judges.

However, “the extension of the time limit for judgment of the present proceedings, which resulted in the decision not to adjudicate, could clearly have been avoided without the failure of (…) SNCF Gares et Connexion (…) which did not did not bring to the attention of the court in due time (…) that the project (…) was now abandoned.”

The court therefore ordered the company to pay 3,000 euros to the collective for its legal costs. The Gare du Nord – La Chapelle Residents’ Committee will not receive anything for its part, but will also not have any legal fees to pay to the project leaders.

CB-PressPepper

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon -.