London – Paris: Competition! A short walk with underground numbers to understand which capital has the most developed metro network.
A little history to begin with. In 1863, the world’s first underground line was built in London, which connects Paddington to Farrington Street and is 5 km long. The second route was excavated in 1890. In Paris, the city crossing from Port de Vincennes to Port Milet opened for the 1900 Summer Olympics, becoming the eighth metro line in the world. A point for London.
At the technical level: Draw
There are 303 stations on the Paris Metro and 270 stations in London. Light City won by 16 lines with 11 lines against the English. Between the two stations is an average of one minute in Paris, compared to two stations in London. Thus, the 219.9 km network can cross all the stations of the French capital in 13 hours, while in London it takes 16 hours to make the 421 km network. However, the fastest metro line travels at 40 km / h, while the fastest underground line travels at 100 km / h.
In Paris, the 8th line is 23.4 km long, while in London it is the 54.9 km long central line.
Chatelet-les-Halles is the largest metro station in the world and it is difficult to compete with it. The busiest English train station in 2015 was Waterloo with 95 million passengers, up from 46.7 million in Gare Saint-Lazare in 2018, which eliminated the Gare du Nord.
So the London pipeline is fast and the network is large, even though it serves fewer stations and has less than 5 lines. It is busier than the Paris Metro, but it is not blessed with the largest train station in the world. A point everywhere?
At the practical level: London is ahead of Paris
At the practical level, again, both networks are in competition. There may be more lines on the Paris Metro, the network is mainly concentrated in Zone 1 and to get to the suburbs, you have to take a bus or RER. Underground, on the other hand, serves more of the “suburbs” of the capital.
In Paris, lines are named after numbers, which makes it much easier to find one’s way than the names of London lines. In addition, the sites are marked with the name of the last station, not “east” or “west”, signs that force you to look at the map.
However, Parisians still buy ticket books. If residents have a Navigo pass, others still come around with a ticket imagined 117 years ago. The terminal has no contactless payments or rechargeable oyster cards, which is still in place and gives London a point.