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Lyon is the second largest city in France and situated on the confluence of the rivers Saône and Rhône. Although the city itself only counts some 450,000 inhabitants, it has about 1.3 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area formed by 62 boroughs (606 km2).
Two special features distinguish the Lyon Métro from other European underground systems:
- a metro line using a rack (Line C)
- the first fully automated standard gauge metro line (Line D)

The first line of today's metro network is one of the most curious lines amongst the European metro systems: a former funicular was included into today's line C as a rack-railway between Croix-Paquet and Croix-Rousse on 6 Dec 1974.

The biggest part of today's network opened in 1978:

Line A: Full length from Perrache (Railway Station) to Laurent Bonnevay (8 km). The line crosses the river Rhône inside the Morand-Bridge. A 1-station extension was added to this line almost 30 years later to provide interchange with tram line T3 and the future express tram line that is to link St Exupéry Airport.

Line B: Charpennes - Part Dieu (Railway Station). The southern part to Jean Macé opened in 1981. An extension south to Gerland including 3 stations (Pl. Jean Jaurès, Debourg, Stade-de-Gerland) was added on 4 Sept. 2000. Total length of the line is now 6 km.

Line C: Hôtel de Ville - Croix-Paquet. In 1984 extended to Cuire - total length 2.5 km. This line definitely includes Europe's steepest metro station: Croix-Paquet (a gradient of 17%). 2-car trains use the rack between Hôtel de Ville and Croix-Rousse (936 m), after that it's a standard adhesive line that runs single-track and above ground from just after Hénon and its terminus at Cuire.

After completion of the first stage of Lyon's Métro, a fourth line was added between 1991 and 1992:

Line D: Gorge de Loup - Grange Blanche (1991), and south to Gare de Vénissieux (1992). In spring 1997, a western extension to Gare de Vaise was added. The total length is about 13 km.
This line is the first large-profile totally automated metro line in the world. The so called 'Maggaly' system (Métro automatique à grand gabarit de l'agglomération lyonaise) allows a frequency of 2 minutes between trains. Trains are formed by two cars only, although station platforms are longer, obviously to permit the use of longer trains in the future. Compared to the VAL system in Lille or Toulouse or the Méteor (ligne 14) in Paris, this line does not have protective doors between platform and trains. Instead, doors have sensors to detect clothes, bags or other things that might get trapped, and there is the SQV (sécurité quais-voies) system, a security system working with infrared rays which causes trains to stop automatically and interrupts electricity if there is an object on the tracks.

Trains all have a similar design although they might use a different system (rack railway and adhesive (line C) and rubber-tyred (lines A, B and automated D). Traffic is on the left side. Seats are surprisingly soft. Stations are announced acoustically. Trains are 2.9 m wide (line C 2.78 m).

The Lyon Métro is not very deep. Some stations, especially on line A and line D (eastern branch), are right below street level with separate entrances for each side platform. A strange construction is Charpennes transfer station where you can change trains from line B to line A towards Perrache without climbing any stairs as the line B platform was built to allow trains, theoretically, to continue on the line A tracks.

The metro is very well integrated into the public transport system of Lyon, there are major transfer points at all terminus stations to local buses and SNCF local trains (which are not integrated in the tariff system though).

Station Architecture
Some stations, especially on line D, have a very interesting design. Definitely the most outstanding is Parilly (architects: Jourda and Perraudin) which seems to be an underground cathedral.

Funiculars
The Lyon metro map also shows two funicular lines which both start at Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) metro station. The line to Fourvière is more of a tourist type, whereas the other to Saint Just with an intermediate stop at Minimes for the Roman theatres is a real metro extension with trains every 5 minutes between the city centre and the neighbourhood of Saint Just.

Tramways
In January 2001, two new tram lines began running through Lyon and its eastern suburbs: between Perrache (transfer to Line A) and IUT de Feyssine in the north-east (line T1; 8.2 km), and from Perrache (transfer to Line A) to Porte des Alpes in the southeast (line T2; 10.1 km). Meanwhile T1 has been extended from Perrache to Montrochet and T2 from Porte des Alpes to St Priest-Bel-Air.

A third line (T3) opened on 4 Dec. 2006, it links Gare Part-Dieu with Meyzieu Z.I. along the former railway alignment of the 'Chemin de Fer de l'Est Lyonais'. This route will eventually be extended to the Lyon Saint Exupéry Airport.

2 May 1978: A Perrache - Laurent Bonnevay
                  B Charpennes - Part Dieu
                    C Hôtel de Ville - Croix-Paquet
14 Sept 1981: B Part Dieu - Jean Macé
10 Dec 1984: C Croix-Paquet - Cuire
9 Sept 1991: D Gorge de Loup - Grange Blanche
11 Dec 1992: D Grange Blanche - Gare de Vénissieux
28 Apr 1997: D Gorge de Loup - Gare de Vaise
4 Sept 2000: B Jean Macé - Stade-de-Gerland
02 Oct 2007: A Laurent Bonnevay - Vaulx-en-Velin La Soie

 Projects

An extension of Line B (Stade de Gerland to Oullins, across the River Rhone) has been planned for a while, but repeatedly postponed. La Saulaie station (interchange with suburban railway) could open by 2013, another station is planned after that. (More)

Lyon's Métro, operated by TCL (Transports en Commun de Lyon - also in charge of buses, trams, trolleybuses and the 2 funiculars) is mainly underground (24 km). The average distance between stations is 700 m.

- The metro operates between 5:00 and 0:30 (Cuire station is only served until 21:00).
- Trains run every 3-6 minutes on Line A, every 7.5 minutes on Line B, every 11 minutes on Line C and every 6-9 minutes on Line D. After 21:00 service is reduced a train every 11 minutes on all lines.
- Elevators can only be found on the modern line D and at Charpennes (lines A & B).
Although the metro map shows each line in a different colour, this colour is not visible in stations or on direction panels. All panels for station names and direction are orange, yellow signs show transfer to other lines and green signs show you the way out. But this distinction is not always clear.

- Tickets

For the Lyon Métro there is a very varied offer of tickets according to everybody's needs. Tickets can be bought from vending machines at stations or at one of 10 TCL Service Points (which are situated in some major metro stations or in central city areas). Unfortunately other metro stations are not staffed at all, though all stations have very detailed information panels about timetables, tickets, line maps, etc.

Prices for 2010 in Euro:

Single ticket valid for transfer within 1 hour - EUR 1.60
Ticket Liberté for two hours - EUR 2.40 (9-16h)
Ticket Liberté (1-day-ticket) - EUR 4.70
Ticket for 10 rides - EUR 13.70

Season tickets are now available as electronic cards called TECELY. Tickets and cards must be validated when boarding bus or tram or entering metro station, even in case of transfer.

TCL Site (official website)

Sytral (Transport Authority - official website)

FPTU (France Passion Transport Urbain)

Metro de Lyon at Wikipedia.fr

Carto.metro - Fantastic track map

Lyon Métro Map 1997 (scanned .jpg, 75 KB)

Trams in Lyon by Christoph Groneck

Line B:

Line D:

Photos © Volker Thrun

NEW: Christoph Groneck: METROS IN FRANKREICH / METROS IN FRANCE. Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Rennes, Rouen & Laon. - Aug. 2006, Robert Schwandl Verlag, ISBN 3 936573 13 1 (More info)

José Banaudo: Sur les rails du Lyonnais: Volume 2, Les réseaux secondaires, tacots, ficelles et métro. - 2002, Editions De Borée, Collection : images ferroviaires 160 p. ISBN 2844941346

Christoph Groneck: Neue Straßenbahnen in Frankreich. - 2003, 167p., Ek-Verlag, ISBN 388255844X