Nanterre-Université: station history
Served by: RER A, Transilien L.
Did you know?
A Nanterre station served by RER line A and Transilien line L, named for its position next to the Paris-Nanterre university campus. Before the RER was created it was called the "halte de La Folie". Its forecourt is built 8 metres above the rails; it measures 40 metres wide and 70 metres long, or 2,800 m², and spans the tracks between the university and boulevard des Provinces-Françaises. The station is laid out as a multimodal hub, with a bus stop in front (line 304) and a future link planned with tramway line T1.
Anecdote
A "P" station, west of the university, was originally planned, with a connection along a wide curve passing through the north. After a tunnel-boring machine incident, the old La Folie station was chosen as the site of the new station; the beginning of the tunnel already dug ended up serving only to stable trains. The station is the origin of the short line from Nanterre-Université to Sartrouville, which lets line L trains bound for Cergy join the Paris-Saint-Lazare to Le Havre line via the Nanterre railway viaduct. On line L, it is the terminus for some trains.