Orsay-Ville: station history
Served by: RER B.
Did you know?
A station in the Essonne operated by the RATP and served by RER line B, with a millstone-grit building whose facades were renovated and two lifts installed in works from 2013 to 2014. Together with Le Guichet station it is one of the two stations of the commune; it serves the centre of Orsay and the university campus. The building dates from the extension of the Sceaux line to Limours; the original terminus station, further from the village, near the present Le Guichet station, operated from 1854 to 1867.
Anecdote
In 1965-1966 the creation of the terminus at Orsay changed the interval between services from 20 to 40 minutes; a siding became the main track towards Paris and the old track became track Z. An underpass was opened in 1967, replacing an old crossing made of planks. From 2017 to 2021 a track allowing trains to turn back at Orsay was added and the platforms were lengthened to lead to a new underpass towards the Paris-Saclay campus. At peak times, some trains of the Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse branch terminate there.
Around Orsay-Ville
- Temple de la Gloire, 1000 m away — An isolated neoclassical temple, the last remnant of the now-vanished Château d'Orsay — the same Orsay family that gave its name to the Quai d'Orsay, and so indirectly to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.