The design, manufacture & installation of lifts in the Lamarck-Caulaincourt Metro station in Paris

The Lamarck-Caulaincourt métro station first opened in 1912 and takes its name from the two main roads that cross near its entrance in the Rue Pierre-Dac, a doorway that sits in between two staircases that lead up to Montmartre. Inside, the platforms are 25 metres (82 feet) below street level.

The old lifts had become incapable of dealing with the enormous flows of passenger traffic through the station and, as a result, IMEM Lifts – already a major supplier to the RATP (Paris’s public transport authority) – was hired to design a brand-new lift system to resolve the station’s serious congestion problems.

After carrying out a detailed study of this centrally-located site, IMEM proposed the complete removal of the old lifts and their replacement with two banks of four lifts, each with a 2250Kg (34-passenger) load capacity and a rated speed of 1.6m/s. The four lifts in each bank travel within a large cylindrical shaft, which is divided into four sections by 25-metre-high metallic separators that were also designed, manufactured and installed by IMEM Lifts.

4 lifts

2250 Kg · 34 passenger

Rated speed: 1,6m/s

Advantages

The available shaft space is much more efficiently used, allowing larger, more spacious lift cars to be installed and passenger capacity to be substantially increased.

  • The increase in car size has been achieved without any adverse effect on the lifts’ rated speed of 1.6 metres/second.
  • Passenger traffic management has been optimised by our smart lift-car timing system.
  • Cutting-edge technologies have been used to deliver remote control and monitoring in real time, including a new app that gives wireless access to the lift equipment. The control systems have been made fully compatible with the RATP’s very own platform.
  • Major improvements in the lifts’ energy efficiency have been achieved through the introduction of a quadruplex energy control systemwith communication in real time between the four lifts in each bank to minimise their energy consumption.
  • A significant reduction in both travel time and waiting time.
  • A major improvement in passenger ride comfort, thanks to the sophisticated gearless drive unitand our Direct Approach System with its pinpoint car-to-landing levelling.
  • The design of both the structural and mechanical elements – built with special high-strength steel that is supremely robust and hard-wearing– delivers high-performance lift systems that can comfortably deal with very high levels of passenger traffic and that guarantee a service life of over 30 years.
  • The installation of special vandal-resistant lift carsin full compliance with the EN 81-71 standard for Category 1 lifts.
  • The lift system is in full compliance with the EN 81-20 and EN 81-50