Magda a écrit :
On Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:27:38 -0400, in rec.travel.europe, Yves Bellefeuille
arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:

... On Wed, 11 Apr 2007, Magda wrote:
...
... The fact that it's only for the people who work at the airport.
...
... That would be a pretty good reason, but one link says, for example,
... that "CDGVAL is a free driverless train providing inter-terminal transfers
... for passengers and the 85,000 employees of Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.".
...
... Note that it says "passengers and employees".

The third link (the one I read) did not mention passengers.

It's free for passengers and visitors as well as for employees. I used
it yesterday.
It's more precisely a VAL (Véhicule Automatique Leger?) a driverless
little metro system sold by Matra to Siemens, like Orlyval or Lille
and Toulouse (?) metro. A bit like Chicago and Newark airports. In
french a metro is mostly but not always underground. CDGVAL passes
mainly above ground and partly underground or through buildings.

At terminal 2, the CDGVAL station is just on the side of the TGV
tracks, opposite the RER tracks. From the train station, the stairs
are just at the beginning of the corridor leading to hall F, on the
left. Since CDVAL trains have only 2 interconnected wagons, the
platform is not long enough to reach hall E corridor and stairs at the
difference of RER B platforms.

At terminal 1, the CDGVAL station is at the shops (boutiques) level at
ground floor. Since only the door n°36 leads to this station, when
you're leaving your plane at arrivals level (1st floor) you have to
follow the indications in blue (meaning transport info) and turn
around the circular terminal until door 36. There you find 2
escalators on both sides of 3 lifts, but strangely when I was there,
both... escalators where going up, so I had to take one of the lifts
to get down, although, inside the lift, only "shops level" was
mentionned but not... CDGVAL ! It was nevertheless mentionned on the
front of the lift and I quickly... had the time to check that both
levels were the same before the doors closed. OUF !

The internal refurbishment of terminal 1 within its preserved
architectural structure is finished for 2 of the 4 quarters of its
circular shape at each passengers level and they are just beginning
now the 3rd quarter at departure level. All should be finished early
2009. The spaces are wider and better organised and they have put info
pannels virtually everywhere... But the disposition and monotonous
size of the words and the orange colour are a bit confusing. IMO they
should use white instead, and red only for the lifts infos, the lifts
walls being painted in red... to find them easily. Above all, on the
numerous vertical pannels showing all the services at the different
levels of the terminal with arrows everywhere, they should precise
that they mean that the services are superposed in this terminal by
SIMPLY GIVING AS WELL A NUMBER OR A LETTER to each floor... not
mentionning those inaccessible to public... :
shops + CDGVAL = level 0 (in fact 2) ; arrivals = level 1 ; transferts
+ duty free = level 2 ; departures = level 3 ; carparks = level 4 to 6
(in fact 9). Somebody who ignores this superposition... can't
understand these pannels with arrows by his own...!!

PS : The last Roisybus leaves at 23:46 from Terminal 2 and the last
RER for Paris to Gare du Nord, Chatelet, etc... is at 00:56 at CDG 2
station of T 2.
So after, take the night bus Noctilien, passing every half hour :
- n°121 to Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, Chatelet, Odéon, Montparnasse,
etc... which leaves T2 at 00:10 and then every hour, from door 2F.02
(= 2F.0.02) : i.e. the first door on the right, up the stairs, at the
end of the corridor leading to hall F (00:04 at T1 door 26 or 12
during works on this door) ;
- n°120 to Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, Chatelet, Gare de Lyon,
Italie, etc... which leaves T2 at 00:40 and then every hour, from the
same door 2F.02 (00:34 at T1 door 26 or 12 during works on this
door) ;
- n°140 to Gare de l'Est, which leaves T2 at 01:10 and then every
hour, from door 2F.02 (01:03 at T1 door 26 or 12 during works on this
door).
Then you can change at Gare de l'Est or Chatelet for many directions.

The bus 350 and 351, respectively to Paris Gare de l'Est and Nation,
leave the CDG 1 RER station 1 H after the 1st RER so they are not
usefull except if they pass exactely where you want.

didier Meurgues