Carrefour Pleyel

Carrefour Pleyel is a station on line 13 of the Paris Métro in the Saint-Denis plain in the commune of Saint-Denis. It was opened in 1952.The station opened on 30 June 1952 when the line was extended from Porte de Saint-Ouen. It was the northern terminus of the northern branch of the line until 26 May 1976, when the line was extended to Basilique de Saint-Denis. It is named after Carrefour Pleyel ("Pleyel crossroads"), which is named after the Austrian composer Ignaz Pleyel (1757-1831) who founded a musical publishing house in Paris. In 1807, he created near the future Carrefour Pleyel the famous Pleyel et Cie piano factory, which ceased production in 2013. The factory gave its name to the Rue des Pianos ("street of the pianos") near the station.Because it was opened as a terminal station, it includes two tracks for trains going to Paris and several sidings, one of which gives access to an underground workshop for train maintenance, called the Atelier de Pleyel.Some services from Saint-Denis - Université terminate at Carrefour Pleyel, which requires passengers to change trains on the same platform in order to continue on their journey.The station was decorated on the theme of "music" for the centenary of the Paris metro. An interactive lighting system was also implemented, especially in the basement of the station, which was the former terminus had therefore had facilities for metro employees that are now unused. But, following complaints by drivers and the Line 13 users association, the interactive system was closed down after two weeks of operation. Blue LEDs and elements of the inactive lighting facility still exist in the station.