In this potpourri of a book on the Paris Métro, British author Andrew Martin is not so much writing an ode to the Métropolitain as providing rail fanatics with a literary handbook. You don’t need to be familiar with “third-rail electrification” and “the MP73s, third-generation tyred trains” to enjoy the eclectic information and funny anecdotes of this charming book – but it would sometimes help. Perhaps better assembled as a dictionary of the Métro, in the style of the Dictionnaire amoureux series published since 2000 in France by Plon, Martin’s short book will nonetheless give Paris and Métro lovers what they are looking for: the infectious enthusiasm of a passionate fan with a clear eye for details.
I naturally chose to read Metropolitain on the Paris Métro, which added some relief and piquancy to the experience. Martin, whose dad worked for British Rail, developed a fascination for le Métro: its smell, its “unified vision”, its lighting, carriages, vaults and tunnels, for its names and colours, all of which were designed as the antithesis of London’s tube. “The London Underground was the world’s first metro, and Paris, having taken a long cool look at it, decided to do the opposite.” There would be no entrance buildings; it would be built much closer to the surface; much denser, all Parisians would live within 500 metres of a métro station; airy and large, carriages would feel tall to passengers, to avoid claustrophobia; and with binary directions, and easy connections, there would be no risk of losing oneself in a subterranean maze.
