Gare Saint-Lazare
The Gare Saint-Lazare (French pronunciation: [ɡaʁ sɛ̃ lazaʁ]; lit. 'Saint Lazarus station'), officially Paris Saint Lazare, is one of the seven large mainline railway station terminals in Paris, France. It was the first train station built in Paris, opening in 1837. It mostly serves train services to western suburbs, as well as intercity services toward Normandy using the Paris–Le Havre railway. Saint-Lazare is the third busiest station in France, after the Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon. It handles 290,000 passengers each day. The current station building opened in 1889 and was designed by architect Juste Lisch; the maître d'œuvre (general contractor) was Eugène Flachat.
History
"Embarcadère de l'Europe", drawn by Victor Hubert, 1837 The first station at Saint Lazare was 200 metres (656 ft) northwest of its current position, called Embarcadère des Batignolles. The station was opened by Marie-Amélie (wife of Louis-Philippe of France) on 24 August 1837. The first line served was the single track line to Le Pecq. In 1843 St-Lazare was the terminus for three lines; by 1900 this number had tripled. The station had 14 platforms in 1854 after several enlargements, and now has 27 platforms sorted in six destination groups.
On 27 April 1924 the inner suburban lines were electrified with 750 V DC third rail. The same lines were re-electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead wires in the 1960s.
