La Défense station

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La Défense
Grande Arche
RER A platforms at La Défense
RER A station view in August 2020
General information
LocationLa Défense
Puteaux
France
Coordinates48°53′31″N 2°14′19″E / 48.891852°N 2.238539°E / 48.891852; 2.238539
Operated bySNCF & RATP Group
Platforms
Tracks
  • Métro: 2
  • RER: 4
  • Tramway: 2
  • Transilien: 4
Construction
Accessible
  • Metro: Yes[1]
  • RER A: Yes, by request to staff
  • RER E: Yes, by prior reservation
  • Tramway: Yes
  • Transilien: Yes, by prior reservation[2]
Other information
Station code87758011 RER A / 87731430 RER E
87382218 Transilien Line L (Paris-Saint-Lazare) Transilien Line U
Fare zone3
History
OpenedApril 1959; 66 years ago (1959-04)
Passengers
201715,329,402
Rank9th out of 302
Services
Preceding station Paris Métro Paris Métro Following station
Terminus Line 1 Esplanade de La Défense
towards Château de Vincennes
Preceding station RER RER Following station
Nanterre-Préfecture
towards Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Cergy-le-Haut or Poissy
 RER A Charles de Gaulle–Étoile
towards Boissy-Saint-Léger or Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy
Nanterre–La Folie
Terminus
 RER E Neuilly–Porte Maillot
towards Chelles–Gournay or Tournan
Preceding station Transilien Transilien Following station
Puteaux
towards Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche or Versailles–Rive Droite
 Line L Courbevoie
towards Paris–Saint Lazare
Puteaux
towards La Verrière
 Line U Terminus
Preceding station Tramways in Île-de-France Tram Following station
Faubourg de l'Arche
towards Pont de Bezons
 T2 Puteaux
towards Porte de Versailles
Location
Map

La Défense station (French pronunciation: [la defɑ̃s]) is a station of the Transilien (Réseau Saint-Lazare) suburban rail lines, RER commuter rail network, Paris Métro, as well as a stop of the Île-de-France tram network. In the future, Paris Metro Line 15 of Grand Paris Express will pass through here, making it a huge railway hub. It is underneath the Grande Arche building in La Défense, the business district just west of Paris. The station is the western terminus of Métro Line 1 and connects the RER A line to the Métro Line 1 station since 1992, the Line 2 tramway since 1994 and SNCF (Transilien) train station. It is also attached to a major shopping centre. There are over 25 million entries and exits each year. A temporary special SNCF service began in April 1959 (1959-04) to serve the newly-built Centre of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT); the RER entered service on 19 January 1970 (1970-01-19).[3][4][5] The RER E station built under the CNIT opened on 6 May 2024.

Highlights on the surface nearby include the monumental Grande Arche, skyscrapers that host the headquarters of important French and foreign companies, and works of urban art such as Le Pouce by César Baldaccini. From the central esplanade the Arc de Triomphe can be seen further down the Axe historique. Until May 2004, this part of La Défense hosted an information centre of the European Union managed by the European Parliament. Like the district it serves, the station takes its name from the 19th-century statue La Défense de Paris, commemorating the Franco-Prussian War.

Passenger services

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Access

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The station is built around the Cœur Transport (a urban interchange complex), a multimodal hub containing the RER A station, the Transilien station, the station of line 1 of the Paris metro, the station of the T2 tramway and a bus station.[6][7] This centre has a large passenger hall, with a Transilien SNCF ticket office, numerous RATP ticket offices, machines for the purchase of long-distance tickets and others for the purchase of Île-de-France tickets. Many shops are located there. This room is directly connected to the Les Quatre Temps shopping center and the Centre of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT).

While most of the accesses lead to the passenger hall, there are other direct accesses. An exit located on Place Carpeaux leads directly to the tram station (as well as, indirectly, to the Transilien station via an underpass).[8] The so-called column room access provides direct access to the Transilien station.[9]

The RER E station has three external accesses. From the forecourt of the Grande Arche, in the CNIT (called La faille) and on Avenue Gambetta in Courbevoie. It is connected from its mezzanine to the Cœur Transport via the CNIT. Direct access is also available to the RER A station and to the Transilien/tramway station thanks to two separate underground corridors.[7] Lifts allow access to the various stations for people with reduced mobility.

Internet access via Wi-Fi is available throughout the station.[10]

Station layout

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0 Street level Entrances/exits
-1 Platforms Tramways in Île-de-France Île-de-France tramway Line 2 Transilien Transilien Line L (Paris-Saint-Lazare) Transilien Line U
-2 Mezzanine to entrances/exits
passageway to RER/Transilien lines
-3 Platform 1 ← Paris Métro Paris Métro Line 1 termination platform
Side platform with PSDs, doors will open on the left
Side platform with PSDs, doors will open on the left
Platform 2 Paris Métro Paris Métro Line 1 toward Château de Vincennes (Esplanade de La Défense) →
-4 Platform 1 RER RER A toward Boissy-Saint-Léger or Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy (Charles de Gaulle–Étoile) →
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Platform A RER RER A toward Boissy-Saint-Léger or Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy (Charles de Gaulle–Étoile) →
Platform B ← RER RER A toward Saint Germain-en-Laye, Cergy-le-Haut or Poissy (Nanterre-Préfecture)
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Platform 2 ← RER RER A toward Saint Germain-en-Laye, Cergy-le-Haut or Poissy (Nanterre-Préfecture)
-5 Platform 1 RER RER E toward Chelles–Gournay or Tournan (Neuilly–Porte Maillot) →
Island platform, doors will open on the right
Platform 2 ← RER RER E toward Nanterre–La Folie (Terminus)
  • Note: The two side platforms for Metro Line 1 are located some distance apart, as opposed to one island platform.

Other connections

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RER E station

There are four platforms in the Transilien station :

In the morning:

  • Platforms 1 and 3 are used for PSL Group III lines to Paris
  • Platform 2 is used for PSL Group III lines to Versailles Rive Droite / St Nom la Breteche – Forêt de Marly
  • Platform 4 is used for La Défense – La Verrière line

In the afternoon:

  • Platform 1 is used for PSL Group III lines to Paris
  • Platforms 2 and 4 are used for PSL Group III lines to Versailles Rive Droite / St Nom la Breteche – Forêt de Marly
  • Platform 3 is used for La Défense – La Verrière line

The RATP bus station has a particularity: passengers wait in a long hall in front of automatic doors that open when the buses arrive. The bus station and the Jules-Verne Terminal are served by :

  • lines 73, 141, 144, 159, 174, 178, 258, 275, 276, 278 and 360 of the RATP bus network ;
  • lines A14 Bonnières, A14 Mantes, 7825 and 72 of the Mantois bus network ;
  • the A14 Les Mureaux and A14 Verneuil lines of the Poissy - Les Mureaux bus network ;
  • the A14 Chambourcy line of the Saint-Germain Boucles de Seine bus network ;
  • the N24 line of the Noctilien network.

Since May 2024, "aerobus" shuttles have been in service to reach Paris-Beauvais airport

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La Défense RER platform panorama
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Buffet froid, the film, begins at La Défense station.[11][12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Plan des lignes -personnes à mobilité réduite" [Line plan - persons with reduced mobility] (PDF) (Map). RATP (in French). May 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Plan pour les voyageurs en fauteuil roulant" [Map for travelers in wheelchairs] (PDF). Île-de-France Mobilités. 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Gare de La Défense". Transilien. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  4. ^ "La Défense : la Grande Arche passe en sous-titre". MétroPole. 21 December 2009. Archived from the original on 24 December 2009 – via web.archive.org.
  5. ^ "Il y a cinquante ans la RATP mettait la Défense à quatre minutes de l'Etoile". defense-92.fr. 21 February 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  6. ^ Moutarde, Nathalie (26 June 1997). "La Défense : « Coeur Transport » est sur les rails". Archive Wixiwix. Archived from the original on 15 June 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Tome 4 – Pièce 4 : Etude d'impact actualisée gare EOLE La Défense CNIT" (PDF). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  8. ^ Teurlais, Adrien (4 January 2005). "Une nouvelle sortie place Carpeaux pour le T2". Defense-92.fr (in French). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  9. ^ Darsonville, Guillaume (9 July 2013). "L'affichage des sorties en gare de La Défense". Ensemble sur la ligne L (in French). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  10. ^ Teurlais, Adrien (11 September 2018). "Surfer sur internet en Wi-Fi dans la gare de La Défense c'est maintenant possible (et gratuit)". Defense-92.fr (in French). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  11. ^ File:Gare RATP La Défense.JPG
  12. ^ "Buffet Froid (1979) - locations". IMDb. Archived from the original on 15 December 2004. Retrieved 18 July 2020.

Bibliography

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  • Roland, Gérard (2003). Stations de métro. D’Abbesses à Wagram. Éditions Bonneton.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gare de la Défense.
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Media related to Gare de la Défense at Wikimedia Commons