Bondy: station history
Served by: RER E.
Did you know?
A RER E station in Seine-Saint-Denis, also served by tram T4. A temporary station opened on 5 July 1849 with the Paris to Meaux section of the Paris to Strasbourg line; « without ceremony », according to L'Illustration, which mentions the shady reputation of Bondy and its forest. On 7 August 1875 it became a junction station with the line to Aulnay-sous-Bois, known as the Coquetiers line. It became part of RER E in 1999; in 2006 it became one of the termini of the first tram-train put into service in France, now line T4.
Anecdote
Near the station, a dump equipped with large tanks received, according to L'Illustration, Parisian cesspit waste carried by night trains; in 1868, Adolphe Joanne's guide advised walking in the forest but avoiding the dump. The present, larger station building was inaugurated in preparation for the Eole line in 1999, and a second underpass was built in 2005.
Around Bondy
- Canal de l'Ourcq, 850 m away — Created by a decree of Napoleon on 19 May 1802, this 108.1-km canal brings the Ourcq's water to the Villette basin. Reserved for non-drinking uses since 1983, it also serves pleasure boating.
- Église Saint-Pierre, 250 m away — Church of the old centre, near which 2005 excavations revealed a necropolis of about a thousand burials, from the late Roman Empire to the 14th century.
- Pont de Bondy, 1000 m away — A bridge over the Canal de l'Ourcq, one of the town's emblematic places.