The Saint-Charles station gets a makeover before the Rugby World Cup
It has remained in its juice or almost since its construction. The Saint-Charles metro station in Marseille is about to suddenly go from the 1970s to the 21st century. Major modernization work is indeed underway in what is the most perceived metro station in the Marseille network, with 25,000 entries per day, and, some months of the year, nearly a million passages.
From August 31, travelers will discover an enlarged station, three years after the launch of this project, and which a handful of journalists were able to discover in preview this Friday. “It is clear that the Saint-Charles station is increasingly in demand and that it is reaching a high level of saturation,” says Laurence Hemerit, director of infrastructure at the RTM. In addition, we will be able to accommodate 15% more passengers in each train. »
Elevators
As part of the Marseille en Grand plan wanted by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, the Marseille metro will indeed be automated, and the platforms equipped with gantries. A facelift that required new developments in the aging metro station. Small revolution: the station will finally be accessible to people with reduced mobility, with the installation of four lifts, one of which will directly link the metro platform to the SNCF station. All of the platforms will also be equipped from end to end with escalators, for a total of fourteen escalators. It is also the end of the steps between the metro station and the station escalator, after upgrading works there.
The RTM will also equip itself with anti-fraud gates in this metro station, instead of the good old tourniquets which are regularly taken for hurdles by Sunday athletes. Under the terms of the work carried out daily, night and day, for a total cost of 36 million euros, the RTM hopes to deliver the entire project before the first matches of the Rugby World Cup in Marseille, i.e. in September 2023. .