1.
GV Arc do Triomphe
0.03

2.
GV Traffic
0.07

3.
GV & SV's Escalator descending to Metro (3 shots)
0.23

4.
GV Coloured cubicles in station concourse (2 shots)
0.34

5.
CU Sign 'Charles de Gaulle station'
0.35

6.
SV Train coming into station
0.44

7.
SV Pompidou coming down escalator
0.47

8.
LV Pompidou boarding train
0.51

9.
GV INTERIOR..train during journey
0.56

10.
GV Train away
0.58

11.
TRAVEL SHOT..station
1.03

12.
SV & LV Pompidou walking through station (2 shots)
1.11

13.
CU Railway chief showing Pompidou model (3 shots)
1.23



Initials ES. 3.33 ES. 3.50



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: President Pompidou today (Thursday 18 November) descended 120 feet (37 metres approx) under Paris to inaugurate one of the most expensive subways in the world.

The latest section of the Reseau Express Regional (RER), which is now completed from the western suburbs to the heart of Paris, will eventually run the width of the French capital and emerge again in the suburbs. It is far larger than the ordinary Metro line and will stretch for 27 miles (44 kms). When the whole line is completed, it will have cost nearly 4,000 million frances (300 million sterling) and will carry 100,000 passengers an hour at peak rush hour periods.

SYNOPSIS: In Paris on Thursday, the first stage of a new underground railway was opened. The 'Reseau Express Regional' will eventually stretch right across the city. Experts claim the new transport system is the most modern and probably the most expensive in the world. Initial estimates have put the final cost at around four-thousand million francs -- about 300 million sterling.

The decor in the new stations is colourful and an intelligent use of modern materials has put the design far ahead of any other railway in the world. Some observers claim that some of the new stations will rival the attractions of the city above.

President Pompidou descended 120 feet underground on Thursday to open the newly-completed section of the railway. Accompanied by crowds of newsmen, he boarded one of the trains to test the comfort and speed and later told officials he was impressed with the new system.

There have, however, been objections to the new railway. Critics have pointed out that the RER has cost as much as two-thirds of the French investment in the Concorde, and claim that the conventional Metro could have been extended into the suburbs for less than the estimated cost of the new system.