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Metro: this line is the most tagged in Paris

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The Editor

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As we know, Paris is one of the biggest capitals in the world when it comes to culture. Renowned museums from all over the globe, cinemas on every corner, dozens of theaters—art is everywhere. Even underground, where tags and graffiti take over not only the subway corridors but the trains themselves.

Since the beginning of the year, if, like us, you take the metro way too often, you’ve probably noticed a surge in the number of decorated train cars filled with vibrant colors, shapes, and letters of all kinds. And it seems that over the past few months, one of the capital's lines has become the preferred target for shadowy artists: Line 10. But what explains this preference?


Always the Same Culprits

More than eight out of 10 trains affected. That’s what our colleagues from Parisien observed at the beginning of June, as they spent an entire morning on the platform of one of the stations on Line 10. Out of the 22 metro trains that day...4 were spared, whether they are old trains (among the oldest in the Paris network) or the very recent MF19, which were introduced just a few months ago.

A situation that some associate with a slowdown in cleaning efforts, especially for the older trains scheduled to be replaced. A theory denied by RATP, which instead points out the various works carried out in recent months, leading to the immobilization of certain trains, maintenance transfers, and the closure of certain sites.


An urban guerrilla that comes with a cost

More generally, the Paris transport authority claims that this situation is not limited to line 10, and that over the last four months, a 30% increase in graffiti has been observed compared to 2025. All this without being able to provide further explanations other than the ongoing works. It does, however, remind us that each year...e, the maintenance and cleaning of the trains still costs over 20 million euros. And the security service continues to act every day, because while the number of graffiti has increased, the number of arrests has also gone up by 340% during the same period compared to last year. Too bad, we found those little splashes of color quite nice.