Épinay-Villetaneuse: station history
Served by: Transilien H.
Did you know?
A station in the Seine-Saint-Denis built in 1880 by the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord under the name "Gare d'Épinay", on the boundary between Épinay-sur-Seine and Montmagny, at 39 metres above sea level, at kilometre point 9.153 of the Saint-Denis to Dieppe line. A stop seems to have existed from 1850, and the Épinay - Persan-Beaumont section via Montsoult opened in 1877. In 1908 it was renamed "Gare d'Épinay - Villetaneuse" to distinguish it from the new Épinay-sur-Seine station, opened on the so-called "Grésillons" line.
Anecdote
The building follows a standard Compagnie du Nord plan designed for junction stations, like that of Eu, with a large gable above the three central bays; the side wings, originally symmetrical, have been lengthened several times, and the cut-stone facade is well preserved. The neighbouring "Épinay-Grande-Ceinture" station had a standard-model building, occupied from the early twentieth century by a café, then demolished in the 1990s. It is the station closest to the campus of the Sorbonne Paris Nord University. In 2017 the access from place des Arcades was upgraded and made accessible, for 2.5 million euros.
Around Épinay-Villetaneuse
- Hôtel de ville d'Épinay-sur-Seine, 650 m away — A former château rebuilt in 1760 by the marquis du Terrail, the only aristocratic residence of the past still standing.
- Église Saint-Médard, 600 m away — An 18th-century church, partly destroyed in the Combat d'Épinay of 1870.