Will Orlyval survive the extension of line 14?

Capital Video: Will Orlyval survive the extension of line 14?

A little over 7 kilometers, on an aerial viaduct and in automatic mode. When, in 1991, former Prime Minister Edith Cresson inaugurated the Orlyval, the little brother of the Lille metro, itself the first underground network in the world to be operated independently, passengers wondered how they were going to be able to communicate, in the event of a problem, with the person who controls their train… With its futuristic look, this infrastructure financed at the time by Lyonnaise des Eaux and RATP (current owner and operator) promised to make life easier for passengers of Orly, and in particular Air Inter, until now obliged to reach the airport by car. The link, connected to the RER B line via Antony station, had quickly found its place, and was approaching the 2.5 million passengers annually. And this despite a very low price of 14.5 euros per journey, not included in Navigo pass subscriptions.

However, the beautiful mechanism risks stopping in June, which will see the inauguration of the extension of line 14 of the Paris metro to Orly. “With this new service, then the opening of line 18 in 2027 between Saclay and Orly, and finally, in 2030, to Versailles Chantiers, Orlyval will lose its attractiveness and its traffic will drop drastically.», recognizes Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the authority which oversees the region’s public transport offering. According to an industry specialist, the number of passengers could be divided by 10, starting this summer! Alarming, the observation is however nothing new: IDFM had in fact launched studies on the subject in 2019, with conclusions presented to the territory’s elected officials in February 2021…

Orlyval Service’s dividends were around 200,000 euros in recent years

But, more than three years later, no decision on the future of this soon to be abandoned line has yet been taken. Worse: again according to IDFM, there does not really emerge a “preferential solution”, between its maintenance as it is, its extension into local service by rail, or even its transformation into a connection, also local, but this time… by the road. It must be said that none of these solutions are really cheap. This is how, according to the first expert assessments, the simple dismantling of Orlyval would cost 140 million euros, or a whopping 20 million euros per kilometer! Whereas the adoption, in its place, of service by autonomous road shuttles would involve the construction of new stations and equipment. Enough to cover the total budget “around 290 million euros”, depending on the region. “Cities like Wissous now see the Orlyval pass without stopping, which is why I am in favor of converting it into local service, by buses, in order to have the finest approach possible. It is a solution shared by all elected officials in the region.», pleads François Durovraythe president (LR) of Essonne.

However, the scenario is not to the taste of RATP which would prefer, according to a source close to the matter, a continuation of operations, in particular via the renewal of rolling stock. In the meantime, the drastic drop in attendance will not be good news for the authority’s already deficit accounts. According to our information, the line’s operating subsidiary, Orlyval Service, its real name, has until now provided juicy dividends to its parent company, the amount of which has been around 200,000 euros in recent years, including in 2020, in the middle of Covid, and had even climbed to 757,000 euros in 2018. Not so bad for this structure with 11 million euros in turnover, and only 85 employees, which therefore risks becoming a source of recurring losses. So much so that it will no longer be just the traveler, but now also the taxpayer, that Orlyval will cost dearly!

Waste figure:

140 million euroscost to be expected if the line had to be dismantled