Throwing a party in a metro station that has never had a traveler pass through isn’t something you see every day. Yet that’s the plan for Saturday, September 12, 2026 at the Massy - Palaiseau station in Essonne, where the Société des grands projets is marking the end of the construction on Line 18 of the Grand Paris Express. From 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., entry is free and open to all.
The atmosphere is striking in such a setting. The musical events unfold throughout the afternoon, with artistic performances that take over the station’s volumes, those broad, pale concrete spaces still empty of any bustle. The sound echoes here differently than in a concert hall, and that’s precisely what makes the décor compelling.
On the culinary side, food stalls are serving local products on site. It’s a chance to turn a site visit into a proper late-summer outing, with neighbors, families, and neighborhood curious souls in attendance. The day’s program brings together several events:
This format has already proven itself this summer. The three elevated stations on the line (Polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay and Christ de Saclay) organized their own end-of-construction celebrations and drew nearly 2,000 people. Some lucky attendees even caught a train passing beneath the glass roofs. Nothing guarantees the same privilege on Saturday, but the idea remains the same: give residents the station before the travelers.
Between two stretches, we take a stroll. The visit is free and lets you observe the information desks, the automatic ticket vending machines, the control lines, the seating, and the signage that will give the line its identity. A brand-new setting, still silent, that we’ll never see again in this state.
Access is via the Le Lien footbridge, on the Carnot Avenue side or on Raymond Aron Avenue, space permitting: best to arrive early. The Ville de Massy is relaying the information to local residents.
The station, for its part, won’t stay a concert hall for long. Nestled at the center of a 400-meter-wide tract of tracks, it completes a multimodal hub that already brings together the RER B, the RER C, the tram T12, the Transilien V, a TGV station and two bus stations, and will connect Massy to the Saclay plateau, where nearly 100,000 students, researchers and employees travel each day. The commissioning of the first section, up to Christ de Saclay, is set for 30 November 2026. It will be the first entirely new metro line in Île-de-France in about thirty years, ahead of lines 15, 16 and 17.
