It was time. A major air quality measurement campaign will be launched on Monday October 23 on all RATP metro and RER lines, in order to establish a precise map of the level of pollution in the network. The best way “to have a good thermometer of what exactly is happening on the network”, underlined Jean Castex, CEO of RATP, this Thursday on the occasion of the presentation of this unique campaign which plans to measure the PM2.5 and PM10 particles via filter sampling and a portable analyzer, as well as CO2.
Because although one-off measurement campaigns had already been carried out in recent years in certain RATP stations, none had been deployed across the entire network. However, it is a request from the Ministry of Ecological Transition dated 2016, which then commissioned the National Institute of Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS) to establish a guide of recommendations for measurement in enclosures. underground railways. The result is an “extremely rigorous” protocol in accordance with the guide developed by INERIS and a reference, underlines the RATP.
This campaign will therefore “obey strict rules”, specifies the former prime minister, who thus brushes aside those “who come to our network with uncertified measuring devices” and who do not carry out their measurements. “in the rules of art”. “It’s then difficult” according to him “to learn from it”. From Monday October 23, two to three technicians – RATP employees and equipped with a state-of-the-art case – will be sent from Monday to Friday for two months in the field to carry out 4 hours of measurements per day at peak, two hours between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and two hours from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., several times per line if different trains are running there. That is 72 journeys, which represent 144 hours of measurements. All the data collected will then be sent to INERIS to be used and studied as well as to Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM).
“We need reliable measurements,” said Valérie Pécresse, who welcomed the establishment of this “certified protocol”. The president of the region and of IDFM also pleaded for the RATP to play the game of “absolute transparency”, and for the results of these measures to be “accessible to all users”. “Our objective is that by 2024, users will have a real map” of air quality “in stations and stations” and “be able to know every day the level of pollution in their station and in their oar. Measurements which will be added to those already measured in five stations – Franklin D. Roosevelt, Châtelet, Châtelet RER A, Auber and Nation RER A – available on RATP open data.
The results should ultimately allow RATP “to act better at the source against air pollution in underground networks”, underlines Jean Castex, who affirms that “heavy investments” have already been made. In order to equip the network with fans, but also to finance “more innovative techniques” such as smoke extractors or new pads placed on the RER A tires, supposed to reduce the emissions of the trains when braking. So many technologies “that we will gradually deploy which will make it possible to limit the emission of these particles”, adds the former prime minister, who assures “act on all registers”. Before recalling that public transport remains “the safest means of transport” in relation to pollutant emissions.
For several years, the level of pollution in the underground networks – metro and RER – as well as the group’s communication have often been highlighted by associations such as Respire. Last spring, the Paris public prosecutor’s office even opened an investigation for “endangering others” targeting the RATP suspected by the Respire association of hiding abnormally high rates from its users. A few weeks later, a study carried out for the program “Vert de rage” showed a precise but contested map by the RATP of pollution in the underground network.
