Not that it’s legal, but, theoretically, one could go to the rue Florian in the far corner of Paris’ twentieth arrondissement and, with a running start and the help of a slanted slab of concrete, hop over the green fence. What one would find is quite striking: a mid-nineteenth-century train track replete with overgrown grass, rusty rails, and remarkable views of Paris. The tracks wind through the city for nearly twenty miles, moving high above the city and far below it. To those in the know, it is one of the great gems of Paris. But, of course, from a legal perspective, gaining access to it is merely theoretical.

What’s not theoretical is that La Petite Ceinture, or The Little Loop, has been deserted and publically off-limits for eighty years. In most areas, the tracks are protected with giant wads of barbed wire. It’s difficult to access any of the seventeen stations: abandoned, now colorfully tagged with graffiti, their glass windows dusty or shattered.

Yet renovations — and widespread availability to the public — to this Parisian treasure may soon be on the way.

There has long been support for renovating La Petite Ceinture. For starters: it’s beautiful. Predominately twisting through the sleepy twelfth, fifteenth, and twentieth arrondissements, there are more than two hundred species of plants and seventy species of animals to be seen. Renovation would mean gardens could be maintained, shattered glass and garbage cleaned up, graffiti painted over. But more practically, its renovation would mean an additional complement to the current public transportation system.

Built in the 1850s, the Petite Ceinture was, at the time, the only form of motorized transportation. Yet by 1934, its trains had stopped taking passengers. The innovation of automobiles, the underground métro, and the RER system all rendered it unnecessary.

Since 1992, L’Association Sauvegarde Petite Ceinture (ASPCRF), or The Little Loop Conservation Association, has been working to renovate the railroad for one reason: given the glut of auto traffic and the sardines-esque public transportation situation that has steadily increased as more and more people funnel into the French capital, an additional public transportation system could prove useful in reducing transportation times and the stress of commuting. As the ASPCRF’s website reads, “We advocate its rehabilitation as a rail transit system compatible with the regional rail network that would be responsive and respectful of its environment.”

The renovation of La Petite Ceinture has recently become a cause célèbre for Parisian politicians. Anne Hidalgo, the first-year mayor of Paris, ran her Socialist Party mayoral campaign with the promise that she would renovate and make available to the public more parts of the Petite Ceinture.

“I hope that soon nature will no longer be confined to parks and gardens, but will be present throughout the city, especially on roofs, façades and abandoned urban areas,” she told a group of supporters at a pop-up convention near Balard. “I want the Petite Ceinture to be a green corridor, a dedicated breathing space.”

Since her election, Ms. Hidalgo has inaugurated two short walking paths on the rail line (one is five-hundred meters long; the other is nine-hundred meters). What’s stopping her from renovating the entire line is mainly bureaucratic red tape. The railway is officially owned not by the city but by the Réseau Ferré de France (RFF), which has been picky with which parts of the railroad it rents out to the city.

But not all Parisians want it to be renovated. Right now, the railroad acts a space for urban explorers and vagrants, many of whom have made temporary homes in flowerbeds and patches of grass along the rails.

The long, dark tunnels of the railroad house secrets as well: there is a rumor that a certain tunnel conceals an illegal entrance to the Catacombs. Rumors of psychedelic drug parties and orgies are often also traced back to La Petite Ceinture.

But the Vice President of the ASPCRF, Bruno Bretelle, wants to press ahead with renovation, making its charms more easily (and legally) available to the public. “It is the last great wasteland in Paris,” he says. “It is a place that gives the feeling of freedom.”

Yet the unwavering support of Mr. Bretelle and Ms. Hidalgo to convert a wasteland into a shared space begs the all-important question: Would opening La Petite Ceinture up to the public give everyone access to that feeling of freedom Mr. Bretelle talks about? Or would its renovation destroy rather than liberate its inherent bohemian charms?

Whatever happens, the rehabilitation project appears to be crawling forward. Ms. Hidalgo just announced that the Hasard Ludique — one of the stations on the Petite Ceinture line in the fifteenth arrondissement — would be renovated and opened to the public in autumn 2015. Whether the century-and-a-half-old railway can maintain its history, beauty, and bohemian charms — well that remains to be seen.

All photos by the author.

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