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This RER line is the busiest in Europe!

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The Editor

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With nearly 4 million users each day, the express regional network of Île-de-France, affectionately known as the RER, brings together quite an amazing crowd. So much so that one of its 5 lines is officially the most used regional express train in Europe. And fortunately, it’s also the most punctual in the capital!

As we know, the public transport in Paris is often full of records. Between the Line 13, voted among the worst lines in the world, the Gare du Nord, which sees the most traffic each day in Europe, and the smell of certain stations unanimously declared by the editorial team as the worst smell in the universe, we can't count all these achievements that define the greatness (or not) of the Parisian network. And to top it off, did you know that the capital also boasts the busiest RER line on the Old Continent?


An essential line

Not surprisingly, it's the RER A, which carries over 1.4 million travelers every day, making up nearly half of the passengers in the Île-de-France network managed by both RATP and SNCF. During peak hours, the trains can see over 640,000 passengers, which is more than...And the population of Lyon ! An overcrowding that can be explained by various reasons. First of all, its very central position in the capital, as the line crosses it from east to west with 108 km of tracks. Secondly, the strategic points it serves, like the station Châtelet-les-Halles, aka the largest underground station in the world, as well as Disneyland Park and the Champs-Élysées, top tourist destinations.


A Line in Trouble

The European ranking is followed by another Parisian line, the RER B, which allows more than 980,000 people to transit each day, thanks to a journey and a strategic location. However, there's a small downside: while the line of the RER A is also the most punctual in the network, with a rate of 94.4%, the blue line, on the contrary, has the highest amount of delays, with a punctuality rate of only 85.7%. This is quite bad news, which usually leads to justified frustration from all the commuters.