2023-09-03 14:02:36
“Transparency” is the watchword, repeated over and over once more by Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the region’s transport organizing institution, and the RATP for the months and years to come. Called into question on air quality by the study of journalists from Green of Rage then an investigation by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office, the two entities, “welded” (“There is not a cigarette paper sheet between them and us”, according to Laurent Probst, CEO of IDFM) organized a press briefing on the subject.
The opportunity to unpack the many measures put in place to improve air quality. A communication exercise, intended to inform users, but also to regain control over a sensitive subject in recent months.
Soon a map and a QR code to know the level of air quality in each station
“Since 2021, the air quality in underground railway spaces has been put in the foreground”, insists Laurent Probst. For example, the CEO announces a partnership with AirParif, the air quality observatory in Île-de-France, with the aim of measuring and analyzing air quality throughout the network. Ile-de-France transport.
For nearly a year, IDFM has been requesting the measurements made by the RATP in all the stations on the network. It is now done and a detailed report should be published by AirParif at the beginning of next December.
The first mission here is to map the 300 RATP stations and the 50 SNCF stations (Depth, length, curvature, etc.). All this with the aim of creating a predictive model for evaluating the average level of pollution and dustiness for each of them according to the traffic and the affluence of the network. A map will then be available to users, similar to the data already available on the Internet for the five stations permanently equipped with measuring devices, and will mark the stations in green, orange or red depending on the level assessed.
To make this information more accessible to users, QR codes should appear in the coming months in stations. All you have to do is scan them to get the measurements directly on your smartphone.
A new technology to reduce particles from braking
But because “measuring is good, but acting is better”, Marie-Claude Dupuis, Strategy, Innovation and Development Director of the RATP group, announced two substantive projects on which the transport authority is working.
The source first. Main emitters of fine particles PM10 and PM2.5 due to heating and abrasion, train brakes undergo many transformations. If today the network is already largely equipped with electric brakes (100% of the RER, 70% of the metros), it should, through the game of train replacements, gradually reach 100%.
But the mechanical brakes remain essential in the event of emergency braking, so the RATP is working with the American company Wabtec, on a lining which makes it possible to emit fewer fine particles. If these brake blocks have been on the test bench since 2020, they are also being tested on three RER A trains. A long-term job since they must be adapted to all types of trains and braking systems present on the network.
The ventilation system is modernized
The other project, also started, is that of renewing the underground air. For several months, the RATP has been investing massively. With 57 million euros allocated to IDFM, the management is gradually reviewing its entire system. Originally, the fans available to the network were intended for smoke extraction. The 381 machines in the network must now be converted to participate in air purification.
This revival involves either the conversion of fans to offer them a “comfort” system (softer), or the renewal of devices, or the installation of new devices such as that of the Bastille station, on line 5, and which is capable of emptying “the equivalent of the volume of a swimming pool in five seconds”. Today in test, this new tool which should be put into service during the month of September.
Contacted by 20 MinutesMartin Boudot, journalist at Green of Ragewith her colleague Mathilde Cusin, welcomes the impact of the survey unveiled in May: “On Friday, we were interviewed by Delphine Bürkli [présidente de la commission régionale sur la qualité de l’air], which confirmed to us that our measurements have been an accelerator in IDFM’s work on air quality. Without being catastrophic, the measurements we have taken have shown that there is still a lot to be done on the subject, and we are happy to see that AirParif is inspired by our work to tackle a precise and complete mapping of the network. »
Criticized, the RATP wanted to recall, through the voice of Marie-Claude Dupuis, that its primary objective was to “protect the health of its employees and its users”.
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