As it has been released, the Paris Metro (RATP) and rapid transit system (RER) serving Paris and suburbs will be the first transportation network of its size worldwide to use LED-lamps for all of its 302 Metro stations and 66 suburban stations by 100%. The amount of 250.000 fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and tubes will be replaced on a surface of about one million square meters and 300 kilometers of platforms and corridors. The program will last 4 years and - according to schedule - be accomplished in the year 2017.
   
The Paris Metro management had previously set itself the aim to reduce the energy consumption of the whole network by 15%. Further calculations had shown, that an implementation of LED-lamps will reduce the energy needed to light up all stations by over 50%. These immense savings on costs finally led to the remarkable 11-million Euro investment for this latest large-scale LED retrofit project.
 
The Paris Metro project is another landmark in the implementation of LED-lighting to a large extent. CityRail Sydney, the Brussels Metro and the London Underground have already announced to observe the LED-implementations in Paris carefully. In the very probably case of success of the Paris Metro project, many similar projects will follow soon not only in Europe, but worldwide. md.