La Défense station (French pronunciation: [la defɑ̃s]) is a station of the Transilien (Réseau Saint-Lazare) suburban rail lines, RER commuter rail network, Paris Métro, as well as a stop of the Île-de-France tram network. In the future, Paris Metro Line 15 of Grand Paris Express will pass through here, making it a huge railway hub. It is underneath the Grande Arche building in La Défense, the business district just west of Paris. The station is the western terminus of Métro Line 1 and connects the RER A line to the Métro Line 1 station since 1992, the Line 2 tramway since 1994 and SNCF (Transilien) train station. It is also attached to a major shopping centre. There are over 25 million entries and exits each year. A temporary special SNCF service began in April 1959 (1959-04) to serve the newly built Centre of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT); the RER entered service on 19 January 1970 (1970-01-19). The RER E station built under the CNIT opened on 6 May 2024.
Highlights on the surface nearby include the monumental Grande Arche, skyscrapers that host the headquarters of important French and foreign companies, and works of urban art such as Le Pouce by César Baldaccini. From the central esplanade the Arc de Triomphe can be seen further down the Axe historique. Until May 2004, this part of La Défense hosted an information centre of the European Union managed by the European Parliament. Like the district it serves, the station takes its name from the 19th-century statue La Défense de Paris, commemorating the Franco-Prussian War.
Contents
Passenger services
Access
The station is built around the Cœur Transport (an urban interchange complex), a multimodal hub containing the RER A station, the Transilien station, the station of line 1 of the Paris metro, the station of the T2 tramway and a bus station. This centre has a large passenger hall, with a Transilien SNCF ticket office, numerous RATP ticket offices, machines for the purchase of long-distance tickets and others for the purchase of Île-de-France tickets. Many shops are located there. This room is directly connected to the Les Quatre Temps shopping center and the Centre of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT).
While most of the accesses lead to the passenger hall, there are other direct accesses. An exit located on Place Carpeaux leads directly to the tram station (as well as, indirectly, to the Transilien station via an underpass). The so-called column room access provides direct access to the Transilien station.
The RER E station has three external accesses. From the forecourt of the Grande Arche, in the CNIT (called La faille) and on Avenue Gambetta in Courbevoie. It is connected from its mezzanine to the Cœur Transport via the CNIT. Direct access is also available to the RER A station and to the Transilien/tramway station thanks to two separate underground corridors. Lifts allow access to the various stations for people with reduced mobility.
Internet access via Wi-Fi is available throughout the station.
Station layout
Note: The two side platforms for Metro Line 1 are located some distance apart, as opposed to one island platform.
Other connections
RER Line A and Line E
Paris St Lazare Group III :
SNCF Gare Saint-Lazare – St Nom la Breteche–Forêt de Marly
SNCF Gare Saint-Lazare – Versailles Rive Droite
SNCF La Défense – La Verrière
Île-de-France tramway Line 2
There are four platforms in the Transilien station :
In the morning:
Platforms 1 and 3 are used for PSL Group III lines to Paris
Platform 2 is used for PSL Group III lines to Versailles Rive Droite / St Nom la Breteche – Forêt de Marly
Platform 4 is used for La Défense – La Verrière line
In the afternoon:
Platform 1 is used for PSL Group III lines to Paris
Platforms 2 and 4 are used for PSL Group III lines to Versailles Rive Droite / St Nom la Breteche – Forêt de Marly
Platform 3 is used for La Défense – La Verrière line
The RATP bus station has a particularity: passengers wait in a long hall in front of automatic doors that open when the buses arrive. The bus station and the Jules-Verne Terminal are served by :
lines 73, 141, 144, 159, 174, 178, 258, 275, 276, 278 and 360 of the RATP bus network;
In popular culture
Buffet froid, the film, begins at La Défense station.