THE project to triple the size Paris Gare du Nord station ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup and 2024 Olympic Games has been cancelled by French National Railways (SNCF).
This follows the tripling of costs to €1.5bn and an expected completion date of 2026 for the transformation of the station.
Under plans approved in July 2020, the 155-year-old station, the busiest in Europe with 700,000 passengers per day using it prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, would have been tripled in size from 5000m² to 124,000m².
This was designed to accommodate rising footfall, with numbers expected to 800,000 by 2030. It had been planned that the project would be completed in time for the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are being held in the city.
The plans included 46,000m² of floor space for shops, offices, a gym, a concert hall, and other cultural venues, as well as an expanded arrivals and departures hall, parking for 2000 bicycles and a 11,400m² roof terrace with a view of the Sacre Coeur basilica.
However, on September 22, SNCF Gares & Connexions stated that the planned work no longer met the conditions agreed with property developer Ceetrus, the real estate subsidiary of the Auchan supermarket group, which had been awarded the contract to carry out the transformation.
A company, Gare du Nord 2024 was created, bearing the commercial name Stationord, which since February 2019 had been contracted to finance, design, build and operate the new shops at the station for a 46-year period.
However, SNCF says that on July 5 it was informed by Stationord that it was anticipating significant additional costs, with the work increasing in price from €389m to €750m, bringing the project’s total price to €1.5bn and therefore tripling the original €500m outlay.
Stationord also informed SNCF that the project would not be completed until 2026, meaning it would miss the major events it was supposed to be ready for.
“Given these unbearable excesses in relation to Stationord's contractual commitments, SNCF Gares & Connexions can only note the serious failure of its concessionaire and pronounce its forfeiture,” SNCF said in a statement. “As a result, SNCF Gares & Connexions will immediately undertake internally, a rapid adaptation of the Gare du Nord to the challenges of the two sporting events of 2023 and 2024; the design of a new project for the transformation of the Gare du Nord, drawn up in close consultation with the public actors concerned.”
French transport minister Mr Jean-Baptiste Djebbari told BFM television in France on September 21 that the government had asked SNCF to study a much smaller project costing around €50m.
Mr Antoine Grolin, chairman of the Ceetrus board of directors told AFP: "I don't know what they're going to do with €50m, apart from changing the windows and putting on a new coat of paint."
“The City of Paris would like to point out the need not to postpone once again the modernisation and renovation of the station,” says Ms Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris.
“We are available and willing to initiate a new renovation project for the Gare du Nord, which is at the service of everyday users, urban integration and intermodality,” says Mr Emmanual Grégoire, first deputy to the mayor of Paris in charge of town planning, architecture. “This project must be able to be initiated for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024.”
“The inhabitants of the 10th district want a new, greener project for the Gare du Nord which will finally free its forecourt from car traffic and the many vehicles parked there every day,” says Ms Alexandra Cordebard, mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris. “Our ambition is to facilitate the opening of the station to its neighbourhood by giving more space to public transport, pedestrians and bicycles.”
