Today’s announcement by the French government that it is postponing the launch of the Charles de Gaulle Express, connecting Paris to its main airport, will not impact on the successful organisation of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which is founded on a solid transport plan.

The Charles de Gaulle Express does not serve any Olympic and Paralympic sites

The Charles de Gaulle Express project was mentioned in the Paris 2024 candidature file, along with all other infrastructure projects scheduled at the time for delivery prior to the start of the Games and upon which Paris 2024 was likely to rely.

As Paris 2024 has always made clear, although the Charles de Gaulle Express would provide Olympic and Paralympic visitors using the facilities at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport with an additional transport alternative, it is not essential to the successful organisation of the Games.

In fact, this new transport link, which is designed to connect Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Paris city centre (Gare de l’Est) in just 20 minutes, does not serve any of the Olympic and Paralympic venues.

The Paris 2024 project is founded on an efficient transport plan that serves the various venues to be used during the course of the Games. Such was the quality of the plan that it was one of the main attributes of the Paris 2024 bid.

A new schedule that reduces the impact of construction work
Like the government and the region’s stakeholders, Paris 2024 is fully committed to reducing the impact of construction work on everyday transport and particularly on users of the B line of the RER (the high-speed rail link between Paris and the suburbs). The inconvenience that would be caused by sticking to the initial schedule for the construction of the Charles de Gaulle Express could not be justified in view of the impact it would have on daily rail services.

This willingness to put the interests of everyday rail users first during preparations for the Games is fully in keeping with the new Games model, which seeks to ensure that the event accommodates itself to the host region and not the other way round. As a result, when it comes to all aspects relating to transport, accommodation and facilities, projects are designed first and foremost with the regions and their inhabitants in mind, before any consideration is given to their temporary use for the event. This philosophy ties in perfectly with the project put forward by Paris 2024 when the bid phase began.