Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles and operations. Transport is important because it enables trade between persons, which is essential for the development of civilizations.

Transport infrastructure consists of the fixed installations including roads, railways, airways, waterways, canals and pipelines and terminals such as airports, railway stations, bus stations, warehouses, trucking terminals, refueling depots (including fueling docks and fuel stations) and seaports. Terminals may be used both for interchange of passengers and cargo and for maintenance.

Vehicles traveling on these networks may include automobiles, bicycles, buses, trains, trucks, people, helicopters, watercraft, spacecraft and aircraft. Operations deal with the way the vehicles are operated, and the procedures set for this purpose including financing, legalities and policies. In the transport industry, operations and ownership of infrastructure can be either public or private, depending on the country and mode.

Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles (English /vɛərˈsaɪ/ vair-SY or /vərˈsaɪ/ vər-SY; French: [vɛʁsaj]), is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. It is also known as the château de Versailles.

When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.

Architectural history

Begun by Louis XIII in 1623, the château began as a hunting lodge in brick and stone. It was enlarged into a royal palace by Louis XIV. The first phase of the expansion (c. 1661–1678) was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau. It culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone (the enveloppe), which surrounded Louis XIII's original building on the north, south, and west (the garden side). After Le Vau's death in 1670, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, François d'Orbay.Charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles. Le Brun and Le Nôtre collaborated on the numerous fountains, and Le Brun supervised the design and installation of countless statues.

Paris

Paris (UK: /ˈpærɪs/ PARR-iss; US: ⁱ/ˈpɛərɪs/ PAIR-iss; French: [paʁi]) is the capital and most populous city of France. Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is in the centre of the Île-de-France region, also known as the région parisienne, "Paris Region". The City of Paris has an area of 105 km² (41 mi²) and a population of 2,241,346 (2014 estimate) within its administrative borders essentially unchanged since 1860.

Since the 19th century, the built-up area of Paris has grown far beyond its administrative borders; together with its suburbs, the whole agglomeration has a population of 10,550,350 (Jan. 2012 census).Paris' metropolitan area spans most of the Paris region and has a population of 12,341,418 (Jan. 2012 census), or one-fifth of the population of France. The administrative region covers 12,012 km² (4,638 mi²), with approximately 12 million inhabitants as of 2014, and has its own regional council and president.

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. By the 12th century, Paris was the largest city in the western world, a prosperous trading centre, and the home of the University of Paris, one of the first in Europe. In the 18th century, it was the centre stage for the French Revolution, and became an important centre of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, a position it still retains today.

Porte de Versailles (Paris Métro)

Porte de Versailles is a station on line 12 of the Paris Métro and a stop on tramway lines 2 and 3a in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.

The station was opened on 5 November 1910 as part of the stage of the Nord-Sud Company's line C from Porte de Versailles to Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. The line was taken over by the metro in 1930 and became line 12. It was the eastern terminus of the line until the extension of the line to Mairie d'Issy on 24 March 1934. The station was relocated during the extension and the area of the old station is now occupied by storage sidings.

The tramway line 3 (now 3a) stop opened on 16 December 2006 as part of the initial section of the tramway between Pont du Garigliano and Porte d'Ivry. Tramway line 2 was extended from Issy - Val de Seine to Porte de Versailles on 21 November 2009.

The station is named after the Porte de Versailles, a gate in the nineteenth century Thiers wall of Paris, which led to the town of Versailles.

Nearby are the Paris expo Porte de Versailles, Parc des Expositions (exhibition ground) and the Palais de Sports (indoor sports venue).

RER C

The RER C is one of the five lines in the RER rapid transit system serving Paris, France. It is operated by SNCF.

The line runs from the northwestern terminuses Pontoise (C1), Versailles-Château (C5) and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (C7) to the southeastern terminuses Massy-Palaiseau (C2), Dourdan-la-Forêt (C4), Saint-Martin d'Étampes (C6) and Versailles – Chantiers (C8).

The RER C is the second longest line in the network, with over 187 km (116 mi) of route. Each day, over 531 trains run on the RER C alone, and carries over 490,000 passengers daily, which is 100,000 passengers more than the entirety of over 800 TGVs. It is also the most popular RER line for tourists which represents 15% of its passengers, as the line serves many monuments and museums, including the Palace of Versailles. Within the city, the RER functions like the Métro, but is faster as it has fewer stops. This has made it a model for proposals to improve transit within other cities. However some argue that the numerous stops, especially inside Paris, and combined with an old and fragile infrastructure, makes the line very slow and inefficient inside the Parisian section of the RER C.