In Val-de-Marne, near the Gustave Roussy Institute, the construction of the new Villejuif-Gustave Roussy station will be completed in a few months, an underground well 50 meters deep where two strategic lines will interconnect. of the Grand Paris Express, the 14 and the 15.
The temperature has dropped a little notch on this line 15 platform which is still under construction. At the top level of the gigantic well of the new Villejuif-Gustave-Roussy station, almost 50 meters deep, workers are busy installing the platform facades, the furniture, all the signage specific to line 15, the emblematic line of the Grand Paris express which will tour the capital.
With its 9 levels in a well 40 meters in diameter, “we are in one of the deepest stations in the network, the second after Saint Maur Créteil station”, which goes down to a depth of 52 meters where line 15 will also pass. “This is a very deep construction site. In fact, we are building a very tall building here in the opposite direction,” laughs Cyril Papon, sector project manager for the station.
The glass dome seen from below.
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© Quai#3/ Devisubox/ Society of Major Projects.
Seen from below, the station and its glass dome look like a basilica. The glass canvas that floats above the well lets air and light penetrate the 9 levels of the station. “We must imagine this station as a connector between the world below and above. We will conduct natural light up to 50 meters deep”explains its architect Dominique Perrault.
“When we leave the metro, we will be with ambient air and ambient light so we will not have any feeling of being 50 meters deep.” Deep within the cylinder on the 9th level, where natural light is weakest, Chilean artist Iván Navarro has designed a light installation in the shape of a sundial that will be installed on a circular ceiling.
Under line 14, 40,000 to 50,000 travelers will then cross each day.
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© Jean Forneris
The future Villejuif-Gustave Roussy station, nicknamed VGR, connects two lines of the future network: line 15 South and line 14, the backbone of the Grand Paris express, from Saint-Denis Pleyel to Orly airport . Among the 68 new Grand Express stations, the VGR is a strategic structure because of this interconnection.
Villejuif-Gustave Roussy station south of Paris in Val-de-Marne crossed by line 14 and line 15.
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© IDF Mobiités
Go a little higher to the 7th level. This plateau will be the beating heart of the station. “In this interface between line 14 and 15, we expect here between 40,000 and 50,000 people per day and we have 16 escalators which end at this interface”, explains Cyril Papon. Just above, a huge caisson crosses the station for more than 40 meters. It is in this silver structure, a frame bridge, that line 14 has been running for more than two weeks.
One of the 16 escalators leads to a square dominated by an imposing box where line 14 passes.
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© Jean Forneris
To install this framework bridge, a 1,400-tonne tunnel boring machine was required at the beginning of 2020. A delicate open-heart operation. “We had already demolished everything around it. The tunnel boring machine broke the exterior wall, it went in and out on the other side,” remembers Cyril Papon. The operation was repeated for the digging of the line 15 tunnel a few months later.
Since May 13, metro line 14 regularly crosses the VGR. “A blank walk” and empty to test the smooth running of metro traffic before June 24. On that day, the southern extension of line 14 will be open to Orly airport. Travelers will pass through Villejuif-Gustave Roussy without stopping there. Except in case of emergency for fire evacuation.
Even higher, leaning over this chasm makes you dizzy. The daylight which penetrates to the bottom of the cylinder allows us to count a large part of the equipment which will allow the circulation of thousands of travelers. Among them, a flight of 32 escalators, the two main of which intersect under the glass roof.
A dizzying view of the bottom of the well and the escalators.
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© Jean Forneris
As close as possible to the glass vault, from the ground floor to the second floor, the evening races”open, dedicated to neighborhood life. On the first three levels, the station will be accessible to the public; you will not need a badge to access it. 17 businesses will be distributed over these floors”, explains Cyril Papon.
To meet delivery deadlines, two hundred people are working on the site. “The structural work is finished. Now we are placing the networks, forests of cables, the entire ventilation system. We are starting to have the final shape of the station“, assures the project manager.
At the end of 2024, Villejuif-Gustave Roussy will welcome its first travelers for metro 14. Users of line 15 south will have to wait until 2025.
