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The 14 Line Paris Metro is a wonderful system. The Metropolitan turned 100 years old in 2000. The system is well laid out, with one never more then 500 yards from a metro entrance in center city. The station and tunnels are unique in the metro world. The lines have two track vaulted tunnels with no center columns. Most of the stations mimic the tunnels with side platforms with no supporting beams. This makes for easy photography (during non-rush hours). Paris is the first city to introduce rubber tired metros on Line 11. Later lines 1,4 and 6 were converted to rubber tires. With the rubber tires, the trains are quiet on curves and accelerate and brake quicker then steel rail lines. However steel rails are still there and the trains still have steel wheels on each truck. The steel is used for turnouts and just in case a tire blows out. Much to my surprise, however, most of the metro is the traditional steel wheel on steel rail. In comparing the two, the steel wheel seems to give a smoother ride (no bouncing). Noise levels in the stations are not much different. The rubber tires make a lot of friction noise when speeding up. Braking is the same since the brakes on both clamp against the steel wheels. The newest line in Paris is the automated Meteor or Line 14. It is a rubber-tired line with no operators. It is designed for much higher speeds then the rest of the Metro. When completed it will provide some much needed relief to Line 1 and RER Line A
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