With Grand Paris Express, Paris Hopes to Expand Its Borders—And Metropolitan Might

Cost challenges and delays still threaten to derail major extension of city’s transportation network

For more than a decade, French planners have dreamed of an ambitious and expensive new rail network that would supersize Paris and turn it into a leader rather than a follower of global cities like London and New York.

Today, the Grand Paris Express—one of Europe’s largest transport projects—is starting to take shape. In dozens of sites in the region, construction work can be seen such as boring machines digging tunnels into the ground or machines pouring concrete to make the roof of a future metro train station.

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