Gare Du Nord - Paris North Station

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Gare du Nord

 

The SNCF is Paris’ public transport railway network. The Gare du Nord, also called the North Station,

is one of six of the SNCF’s large terminal stations. It connects many of the Paris Metro’s and RER’s transportation lines. The station was built in 1860 to 1864 following the designs of French architect Jacques Hittorff.

Based on the number of commuters, the Gare du Nord, serving an average of 180 million every year,

is the third busiest railway station in the whole world. The first and second busiest stations are the Ikebukuro and Shinjuku stations in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

The Gare du Nord serves trains to the north of the country and many other international destinations including Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The Bridge and Roadway engineers built the first Gare du Nord on behalf of the Chemin de Fer du Nord company managed by Léonce Reynaud. Reynaud was one of the École Polytechnique’s highly esteemed professors of architecture.

On the June 14, 1846, the station was inaugurated. However, in 1860, since it was not large enough to accommodate the growing commuter traffic, part of the Gare du Nord was demolished to make space

for the new station. The old façade was transferred to Lille.