It was impossible to cross Paris by RER (except by line C) since midday on Thursday. The cause was a technical incident that occurred shortly after noon in a technical room housing signaling equipment at the Châtelet-les-Halles station, where RER lines A, B, and D intersect, all of which had to be cut off in the central part of their route.
The incident in question (a ruptured pipe causing a significant water leak) damaged the signaling systems. As a safety measure, train traffic was quickly interrupted between Nation and Auber for RER A, between Luxembourg and Gare du Nord for RER B, and between Gare de Lyon and Gare du Nord for line D (managed by SNCF).
“The source of the breakdowns was quickly identified. Technical teams are on site to try to restore traffic,” said RATP (manager of the Châtelet infrastructure) in the midst of the afternoon, without being able to specify the estimated time for the resumption of normal traffic on the different lines concerned.
Station agents were sent to Châtelet to inform passengers and manage the flow of RER-deprived users. The metro service was reinforced on line 1 (automatic), which serves the same areas as RER A in Paris, and on line 4 (currently being automated), which crosses Paris from north to south, in an attempt to reduce the crowd of interrupted RER users.
