Now excuse me but I have to update and revise this one. For several years it was my job entry point to Paris from my beloved rive droite train station in Versailles. The neighborhood became mine for ins and outs, lunch, sightseeing, and shopping. I have seen the transformation from an old train station to a modern one with a great shopping gallery. Let me tell you more of the Gare Saint Lazare of Paris!
It was a very nice and cool at 20C or about 71F day when writing this post initially and having with me a nice Porto red . Life goes on , always with memories never forgotten, but I need to move on for the rest. I like to tell you today about the Gare Saint Lazare train station so dear to me. Not your fan of public transport if you followed me but sometimes for one reason or another they are needed. Great memories even if some late arrivals due to technical problems on the tracks lol! Upon arriving at Saint Lazare I walked 18 minutes to the office same time as taking the public transport but you see Paris, glorious grand department stores, Madeleine, rue Saint Honoré, passing by rue de Rivoli , like I said once in Paris, walk. If this is not possible, than use the Bus, see Paris above ground, much better ::)
Anyway this is my rendition on history of this wonderful old train station.
The Gare Saint-Lazare, is one of the seven main stations of the SNCF network in Paris. Located in the 8éme arrondissement or neighborhood/quartier of Europe, it is one of the former heads of line of the West network. First station built in Île-de-France region from 1837 and affected mainly since by the commuter traffic, it is the second station of Paris and France by its traffic and the second in Europe, last I look up. The station is 32 meters above sea level, in a very dense urban environment. It serve most of Normandy and the western suburbs of Paris, thanks to a wide range of lines extending from Pontoise and Ermont to the north , in Versailles to the south, assuring it a particularly high passenger traffic. The first breakpoint encountered when leaving the Gare Saint Lazare is the Pont-Cardinet station, in the Paris-Saint-Lazare line at Le Havre served by the trains of the L line of the Transilien. As well as been one of my favorite parking spots on street in Paris! As well as the covered market of Batignolles (see post)
The history of Gare Saint-Lazare began during the reign of King of the French, Louis-Philippe I in 1837 with the opening of the Paris track to Saint-Germain at that time, a temporary wooden station, the Pier of the West, was built on the Place de l’Europe, in the out of the Batignolles Tunnel, located at the former Tivoli Gardens Park. The line serves then for travelers the current stations of Pont-Cardinet, Clichy-Levallois, Asnières, La Garenne-Colombes, Nanterre-Ville and Le Vésinet-Le Pecq. In 1841, a second temporary station, in masonry covered with a yellow coating, is built on rue de Stockholm, right in front of the Place de l’Europe . The intention of developers Pereire brothers, promoters of this railroad, is to extend the line to the center of Paris until the rue Tronchet! that leads to the Church of the Madeleine (and my walking beat to work for several years). However, opposition of the city and the owners concerned, the project of the station of La Madeleine is abandoned in 1841. The third station is built at the corner of rue d’Amsterdam and Rue Saint-Lazare, which the station takes its name. The work spans a long period of 1842 to 1853.
In 1867, becoming the most important in Paris, Gare Saint-Lazare receives such extensions that one can speak of a fourth station, inaugurated moreover on 2 June, 1867 on the occasion of the Universal exhibition held in Paris, by the Emperor Napoleon III, accompanied by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Emperor Alexander II of Russia. In the same year, the Europe tunnel was abolished and replaced by a double metal bridge , reconstructed in concrete in 1931. From 1885 to 1889, a major expansion saw the construction of the current façade with two lateral wings at the tracks forming a “U”, and gave the Saint-Lazare station its present physiognomy. In 1885, a decree declares the extension of rue Saint-Lazare to 30 meters on the even numbers side between rue d’Amsterdam and rue de Londres of public utility. The houses are destroyed and the Hotel Terminus is erected in their place. There are also the two squares that frame it, right in front of the main façade of the station to which it is connected by a walkway covered (now abandoned). In 1919, the courier’s hall is extended by a second hall going to Boulevard des Batignolles (current parking lot of the Pont de l’Europe).
Although the station is mainly dedicated to commuter traffic, its international vocation has been marked by the existence of transatlantic trains to Le Havre-Maritime and Cherbourg-Maritime, in correspondence with the ships for New York. If the New-York-Express of the transatlantic General company circulated until the withdrawal of France in 1974, the Transatlantique-Express of the Cunard Line (for passengers of Queen Elizabeth 2, later Queen Mary 2), continues to circulate, even if the station Maritime (now called the Cite de la Mer) is no longer directly served. As for the Paris-Saint-Lazare-Dieppe-Maritime boat trains, in liaison with the ships to England, they circulated until 1994, replaced by the Eurostar service. Passengers to Ireland by boat continue to take the Paris-Le Havre trains.
A shopping arcade is created in 1974 in the basement of the Galerie des Pas Perdu , the general Tele display is installed, and escalators are set up towards the road to facilitate the correspondence with the Metro, in particular with the line 13 extended in 1976 to the south of Paris . In 1972, the line of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, integrated in the RER A line is transferred to the RATP and leads to the new underground station of rue Auber in the neighborhood of Chaussée d’Antin, located about 500 meters. Still with the Connection of the Cergy line, opened in March 1979, the RER A on May 1988, followed by the Poissy line in 1989. The Gare Saint-Lazare has 27 lanes and is in correspondence with several urban transport lines (Metro, bus and RER).
The 27 tracks of the station are assigned in the following way:
1-4 (group II): Versailles-Rive-Droite and Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche;
5 to 8 (group III): Nanterre-University, Maisons-Laffitte and Cergy-le-Haut;
9 to 12 (groups IV and VI): Ermont-Eaubonne, Cormeilles-en-Parisis;
13 to 17 (group V): Mantes (by Poissy), Evreux, Vernon;
18 to 27: Departures and arrivals outlines, tracks 26 and 27 also used for the trains of group VI towards Mantes (by Conflans-St. Honorine), Pontoise and Gisors.
From 2003 to 2007, the station’s work concentrated on the space of the Transverse wharf, a waiting area which gives access to the 27 tracks of the station. The work of the sector passage and cours d’Amsterdam, initiated in 2006 and completed in 2008, consisted of a widening of the existing passage towards the cours d’Amsterdam, leading to the rue d’Amsterdam, with the creation of a real secondary entrance on this axis. From 2009 to 2012, the most important phase of the work is underway; it has as its object the modernization of the heart of the station with the transformation of the old Galerie des pas Perdu (Hall of lost steps) in a shopping center Saint Lazare on three levels along the 194 meters long hall (213 meters in front), the creation of an underground parking lot and the creation of simpler connections with the metro. End of 2009, the bunker of WWII, implanted in the first basement facing the tracks 4 and 5 at the back of the old shopping arcade was destroyed, because its presence was incompatible with the facilities retained. The new Saint-Lazare train station was inaugurated on March 21, 2012. The Galerie des pas Perdu has now become a skylight thanks to the development of the canopy and the arrangement of the new eighty boutiques spread over three levels; It is equipped with 20 escalators, 300 information screens and a new acoustic comfort. Thus, the passenger traffic was fluidized and a waiting room was opened. The final component of the Saint-Lazare project is the renovation from May 2013 until the beginning of 2014 of the two courtyards Rome and Havre (cour de Rome and cour du Havre), and that of the inner street, between the main building and the Hilton Paris Opéra Hotel.
Some of the goodies here in addtion to many other is the opening last September 2013 of the Restaurant Lazare by star Chef Éric Fréchon that you can access from the shopping center and the inner street (rue Intérieure). Super good!!! webpage: https://lazare-paris.fr/
The new great shopping center Saint Lazare in the train station, superb, we went from Morbihan there just to see the opening! The webpage: https://st-lazare-paris.klepierre.fr/
Some of the artsy things that happened here were :
In 1877, Claude Monet left Argenteuil for Paris, and the painter asked for permission to work in the Gare Saint-Lazare, close to his home. He finds inspiration in the modernity and mobility of the subject, its changing brightness, and the vapor clouds. He produced a series of twelve paintings from various viewpoints, including views of the vast hall, where he focused more on light and color effects than on a detailed description of the railway universe.
Since 1985, two works of art “accumulations” of the French painter and sculptor Arman, five-meters highs, were placed in the two courtyards of the station: Consigne à vie ( a life-time deposit), representing a stack of suitcases, in the cour de Rome and the time for all, representing a stacking of pendulums(clocks), in the cour du Havre.
In the cinema, La Bête humaine (the Human Beast), a French film of 1938 adapted from the eponymous novel by Émile Zola and directed by Jean Renoir, takes place in part in the Gare de Paris-Saint-Lazare and its surroundings.
The station also appears in the songs: at Gare Saint-Lazare (lyrics by Pierre Delanoë, music by Renard Jean, new editions Meridian, released at Polydor in 1962), which is interpreted by Colette Deréal, it is practically entirely dedicated, to the station even it is only fleetingly quoted in the song. Vesoul, written, composed and performed by Jacques Brel in 1968. We can also cite Snack-bar Gare Saint-Lazare, which dates from 1956 (lyrics by Boris Vian and Geo Dorlis, music by Louiguy).
What are the transports here, plenty.
The Gare Saint-Lazare is served by the RER E line on the RER A in case of a breakdown of interconnection in Nanterre-prefecture, the trains destined for Cergy-le-Haut were terminus and origin Paris-Saint-Lazare, joining the normal route from Houilles-Carriéres-sur-Seine.
The Saint-Lazare metro station is on Lines 3, 12, 13 and 14. A corridor connects Saint-Augustin station from line 9 to Saint-Lazare station on line 14 and, as a result, to Gare Saint-Lazare. It is possible to reach the Opéra station from Saint-Augustin and Saint-Lazare by going to the RER E quays and then taking the corridors leading to the Metro lines 7 and 8 at the Opéra station and at the Auber station of the RER A.
These are the exits/sorties when coming out of the Gare Saint Lazare métro lines !
Exit or Sortie 1 Cour de Rome, 2 Place du Havre, 3 Passage du Havre shopping center or centre commercial, 4 Galerie des Marchands station mall, 5 Rue Intérieure, 6 Place Gabriel Péri, 7 Rue de l’Arcade, 8 Rue d’Amsterdam, 9 Cour du Havre, 10 Rue de Caumartin, and 11 Rue Saint Lazare.
The station is served by Bus lines 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 43, 53, 66, 80, 81, 94, 95 and 528 of the RATP bus network and, at night, by the lines N01, N02, 15, 16, 51, N52, N53, N150, N151, N152 , N153 and N154 of the Noctilien network. Buses 95,81,and 27 are great sightseeing too and cheaper than the tourist buses….They are at terminus in the .cour de Rome, place Gabriel Péri and rue St-Lazare.
The Paris tourist office on Saint Lazare: https://en.parisinfo.com/transport/73404/Gare-Saint-Lazare
The Transilien line on Saint Lazare: https://www.transilien.com/fr/gare/gare-de-paris-saint-lazare-8738400
the SNCF information on the Saint Lazare train station: https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/fr/gare/frpsl/paris-saint-lazare
The TER Regional lines on Saint Lazare : https://www.ter.sncf.com/normandie/gares/87384008/Paris-Saint-Lazare/prochains-departs
There you go folks, a memorable Saint Lazare train station indeed, full of nice souvenirs and good cheers. Enjoy Paris but do check ahead for strikes, yikes!!
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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