Paris Transport, Services
R.A.T.P.: RÉGIE
AUTONOME DES TRANSP0RTS PARISIENS - Paris Transport Company.
S.N.C.F.-
SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE DES CHEMINS DE FER FRANÇAIS - French National Railways.
METRO - CHEMIN DE FER MÉTROPOLITAIN - city railway system R.E.R.
RÉSEAU
EXPRESS RÉGIONAL - Regional Express Network.
Britain is an island: from London
stations until recently you could catch trains only to other parts of the
island.
But from Paris you can catch trains to places thousands of miles
away. Most English people arrive at the GARE DU NORD.
From there you can go
to the Channel Ports, Holland, North Germany and Scandinavia.
Down the
street is the GARE DE L’EST; Trains to Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Athens,
Istanbul, warsaw, Moscow, Vladivostok and Beijing.
From GARE DE LYON you can go to Switzerland, Italy – on the
Orient Enpress if you like
– or to the South of France on the TGV, one of
the world’s fastest trains.
From GARE D’AUSTERLITZ trains go to Spain and
Portugal;
from GARE SAINT-LAZARE to Normandy, Brittany and the rest of
France.
There are many other SNCF
stations in Paris, serving the towns and villages of the Paris Region.
These
are gradually becoming part of the R.E.R, a suburban commuter service, with more
lines being built all the time.
The METRO is older, but here too new lines are being built, and every station is
being modernised.
In the whole of Paris, you are never more than 500 metres
from a metro station.
The fares are ridiculously cheap, as the price is the
same wherever you go.
Tickets can be bought singly or in CARNETS. A Carnet
is a set of ten tickets, costing the same as six bought singly.