What are the ghost stations of the Paris metro?

Abandoned after their closure, strangely abandoned by traffic or simply never opened, these are the ghost stations of the Paris metro network.

Stations that never opened

• Haxo

This station in the 19th arrondissement never welcomed a single passenger. It was intended to serve lines 3bis and 7bis between Place des Fêtes and Portes des Lilas stations. Eventually, plans for this station, built in 1921, were abandoned, and Haxo never opened. Access to the street was never even built. Today, the station is used as a garage, a test station and a film set for scenes in Paris metro movies.

• Porte Molitor/Murat

Between lines 9 and 10, a station built in 1923 was intended to serve the Parc des Princes, using the service tracks of the Auteuil workshops and the Murat track. The aim was to allow line 10 trains to pass through, use the tracks of line 9 and then return to line 10. But by 1932, the capacity of the Parc des Princes had doubled, and the station could not cope with the expected passenger capacity. The Porte Molitor or Murat station never opened, and the two tracks around its central platform are now used as a garage.

Semi-abandoned stations

• Invalides

While the line 8 station is still in operation today, two metro platforms were abandoned at Invalides. In 1976, one became a passenger platform for line 13, and the other became an RATP technical platform.

• Porte Maillot

The Porte Maillot station on line 1 is not the one originally built. The first metro line to go online, Porte Maillot station dates back to 1900. But the one you’re using dates back to 1937! When line 1 was extended to Neuilly, Porte Maillot was rebuilt a little further away. The first station is now used as a maintenance workshop.

Stations closed after operation

• Porte des Lilas

This is surely the best-known of the abandoned stations. On line 3ter, whose project fell through, Porte des Lilas station is now used as a backdrop for film shoots on the Paris metro.

• Red Cross

Built in 1923, the station was then the terminus of the southbound line 10. In 1937, when line 10 abandoned the Invalides direction and linked up with today’s line 9, Croix-Rouge station closed. In 1983, artist Guy-Antoine Bonhomme transformed the station into a beach.

• Gambetta/Martin Nadaud

Another terminus station wiped off the map. Between 1905 and 1921, Gambetta/Martin Nadaud was the terminus of line 3, before closing. In 1971, as the line expanded and 3bis appeared, the station was absorbed by today’s Gambetta station.

• Saint-Martin

Between 1932 and 1939, this station was shared by lines 8 and 9 between Richelieu-Drouot and République. It closed during the war, never reopened, and became a platform used in several film shoots and commercials.

• Arsenal

This line 5 station, like the previous entrance, closed during the Second World War and did not reopen in 1945, judged to be of little use to the district’s traffic at the time (Bastille). Today, it serves as a technical room, and in the 1960s as a film set.

• Gare du Nord station

The former Gare du Nord station was moved, then closed twice! Once when the station was moved, and again when line 5 was extended. Line 5 ended at Gare du Nord, and the ghost station was used as a turning point. Today, the large, enclosed station is used as a training area for metro drivers in training.

• Champ de Mars

Surrounded by 3 metro lines around the La Motte Picquet-Grenelle station, Champ de Mars station was closed in September 1939, due to a lack of passengers. Today, the station, which was closed after the outbreak of the Second World War, serves as a storage facility for the RATP.