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PARIS

Biker protests and rail works cause travel disruption in Paris

Bikers in Paris are set to stage a go-slow protest as part on a long-running campaign against parking charges for motorbikes and scooters in the capital.

A street in Paris filled with motorbike riders protesting against parking charges for two-wheeled motor vehicles in the capital
Motorbikers protest against parking charges in Paris. Photo: Alain Jocard / AFP

Motorists have been warned to expect slow-moving traffic in the northwestern quarter of the capital as the demonstration – organised by the Fédération des motards en colère (federation of angry bikers) takes to the streets on Saturday afternoon.

The go-slow parade will gather at Porte Dauphine in the 16th arrondissement, at 2pm  and will head towards Hotel de Ville via les Maréchaux, l’avenue des Ternes, and the boulevards Courcelles and Malesherbes, Saint-Lazare, République and Réaumur.

Saturday’s protest is not the only hindrance to travel in and around the French capital at the weekend.

A number of regional and local rail services, as well as Metro lines, are closed for works.

Metro Line 14: Due to works, traffic will be stopped on the entire line, on Sunday from 10pm. The line will reopen on Tuesday morning. The lines already closes on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings from 10pm, which will continue until December 28th.

RER B: There will be no trains between Aulnay-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, and terminal 2 of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle on Saturday and Sunday. A replacement bus service will operate.

RER C: Due to construction work, traffic on line C between Viroflay Rive gauche and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines will be interrupted for the entire weekend. Passengers should instead use line N, which will increase journey times by up to 15 minutes.

In Essonne, RER C trains will be cancelled and replaced by buses throughout the weekend on the Juvisy/Massy-Palaiseau branch line and until 5pm Sunday for the Juvisy/Dourdan and Juvisy/Etampes branch lines.

RER D: Trains will stop at Saint-Denis Stade de France. The rest of the journey to the terminus at Creil, Oise, will be on a replacement bus service.

RER E: Train traffic between Saint-Lazare and the termini of line E will be interrupted from 10.15pm for the Tournan branch line and 10.30pm for the Chelles-Gournay branch line.

Transilien Line J: Services are interrupted throughout the weekend between Paris/Saint-Lazare and Mantes-la-Jolie via Poissy, Yvelines. A replacement bus service has been set up between Les Mureaux and Mantes-la-Jolie.

Transilien Line N: Trains will not run on Saturday and Sunday between the stations of Epône and Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines. Replacement buses will be put in place.

Transilien Line P: Trains from Paris Est to Meaux, Seine-et-Marne, will be replaced by buses, from at 10.45pm on Saturday and Sunday; from 11pm in the direction of Château-Thierry; and from 11.30pm in the direction of Coulommiers. No trains will run between Meaux and La Ferté-Milon this weekend.

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PARIS

Notre-Dame rebuild ‘meeting deadline and budget’

Paris's Notre-Dame Cathedral, ravaged by fire in 2019, is on track to re-open on time on December 8th, the head of the reconstruction said on Wednesday.

Notre-Dame rebuild 'meeting deadline and budget'

“We are meeting deadlines and budget,” Philippe Jost, who heads the public body overseeing the project, told a French Senate committee.

The fire at the UNESCO-listed cathedral, which welcomed 12 million visitors a year, shocked the world on April 15, 2019.

Jost praised the work of the 250 companies and artist groups involved in the reconstruction, which began in spring 2022 after rubble had been cleared and the foundations secured at a cost of €150 million.

He said the budget for the reconstruction phase was expected to stay below the foreseen €550 million, leaving another €150 million unspent from the huge pot of donations that poured in after the fire.

The surplus will go towards “urgent” restoration of the cathedral’s stone exterior to be carried out from 2025, Jost said.

The spire, which dramatically collapsed five years ago, is once again visible on the Paris skyline following the recent removal of its scaffolding.

The installation of the lead roof is ongoing on its solid oak frame, rebuilt with doweled wood and no metal bolts according to techniques dating back hundreds of years.

“The restoration will last for at least 860 years,” said Jost, referring to how long the cathedral had survived from its initial completion in 1163.

In addition to sprinkler systems, each section of the wooden frame has been “compartmentalised” to prevent any future fire from spreading, Jost said.

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