Auber (Paris RER)

Auber
RER
RER station
Platform in 2005.
Location  France
Coordinates 48°52′23″N 2°19′44″E / 48.873°N 2.329°E / 48.873; 2.329Coordinates: 48°52′23″N 2°19′44″E / 48.873°N 2.329°E / 48.873; 2.329
Owned by RATP Group
Operated by RATP Group
Line(s)
  RER RER A
Platforms 2
Tracks 2
Other information
Fare zone 1
History
Opened 23 November 1971 (1971-11-23)
Traffic
Passengers (2015) 6,168,061
Services
Preceding station   RER   Following station
RER RER A

Auber (French pronunciation: ​[obɛːʁ]) is a station on Line A of the RER in Paris, France. Opened on 23 November 1971 it is one of the largest vaulted underground stations in the world.

The station comprises a main train hall with a superposed ticket hall, together with an extensive network of tunnels connecting to the neighbouring metro stations Opéra, Havre-Caumartin and Saint-Lazare, as well as Haussmann - Saint-Lazare on the RER Line E.

It takes its name from the rue Auber, under which it is situated. This street is in turn named after the 19th-century composer Daniel-François-Esprit Auber.

Engineering

Auber is built in the style of the traditional vaulted metro station as pioneered by Fulgence Bienvenüe, with central tracks and lateral platforms. The difference in engineering terms is that Auber (along with Charles de Gaulle - Étoile and Nation stations) was constructed at depth, entirely underground, and on a far larger scale than any metro station.

In order to build the 225‑m-long, 24‑m-wide train hall and its even larger piggy-backing ticket hall, it was necessary to excavate a cavity 40 m wide, 20 m high and 250 m long—and this 30 m underneath the busy city centre in unstable waterlogged sedimentary rock.[1]:33 The resulting station is cathedral-like in proportions, with a ticket hall so spacious that there is room for a mezzanine. The entire construction is waterproofed on both sides by a 7‑m-thick, 10‑m-high abutment of concrete which contains escalators linking the two levels.[1]:158

The station's eccentrically audacious scale and damp setting earned it references as "the world's largest submarine". With the other two deep single-vaulted stations on the RER Line A it was retrospectively criticised on cost grounds, and in 2018 was in need of modernisation. However, Auber seems a good example of a planning policy attached to grand public spaces that was particularly current in the 1960s and in France.

Auber forms part of a complex of connected underground stations (see below). The scale of Auber, in particular, makes the ensemble one of the largest underground stations in the world in terms of volume.

Particulate pollution

During busy periods, PM10 particle pollution caused by train braking regularly reaches 400 µg/m³ at Auber, eight times the EU Commission's daily average limit.[2]

Connected stations

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Gérondeau, Christian (2003). La Saga du RER et le maillon manquant. Presse de l'École nationale des ponts et chaussées. ISBN 2-85978-368-7.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
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