Saint-Germain-en-Laye: station history
Served by: RER A.
Did you know?
Terminus station of the A1 branch of RER A, a dead-end underground station beneath the château esplanade, at 82 metres altitude. The train served Saint-Germain-en-Laye from 1837; the line's first terminus was at Le Pecq, on the right bank of the Seine, and it closed ten years later when a viaduct made it possible to cross the river. That Le Pecq building, forgotten then buried, was rediscovered during archaeological digs in 2017. The station became an RATP station in 1972; the old station, on rue de la Surintendance, had a rounded façade and was demolished when the link was converted to an RER line, replaced by an underground station.
Anecdote
In 1922, the newspaper L'Intransigeant called the old station "inconvenient, cramped and foul-smelling". The line was electrified in 1927, and the station interior altered in 1928. The present station has two platforms, one central serving three tracks, and three entrances: "Hôtel de Ville", "Église Saint-Germain" and "Château". The project was worked out with the Architecte des Bâtiments de France so as not to harm the perspective from the château. The interchange was redeveloped from 2009 to 2011.
Around Saint-Germain-en-Laye
- Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 230 m away — The royal residence where Louis XIV was born, now the national archaeology museum.
- Musée d'Archéologie nationale, 240 m away — Housed in the château, one of Europe's richest museums of prehistoric and Gallo-Roman archaeology.