Top view of the EDF tower of Cergy-Pontoise. With 86m high, is the tallest building in the Val d'Oise.

The EDF tower of Cergy Pontoise was built in 1974 by the architects Renzo Moro and Guy Lagneau. It is the tallest building in the Val d'Oise. It is 86m high and 14 floors. From innovative design, is one of the first buildings in France to have a structure irrigated. The building is constructed with water-filled tubes which protects it in case of fire.

source: Wikipedia

The sky train, the train on air cushion. Bertin The company developed several prototypes of this type of train. The test tracks were built in 1965. The smallest to the Gometz Chatel and the largest near Orleans, over 20 kilometers long.

The concrete track is shaped like an inverted T. The world record speed for a vehicle air-cushion was established March 5, 1974. The record speed is 430 km / h. In June 1974, the company Bertin sign a contract for the construction of a high-speed line between the town of Cergy and business district "La Défense". A few months later, the French government reversed its decision and abandon the project.

The failure of the project has several assumptions:
- The oil crisis of 1973.
- Lobbying by the company National Railways (SNCF) and the metallurgic industry.

The engineer Jean Bertin died December 21, 1975. In 1978, the permanent cessation of testing. The prototypes are still 14 years in the hangar. Then the hangar is the victim of arson. The test track Gometz le Châtel no longer exists. It has been replaced by a tunnel bypass to relieve the downtown traffic jams.

Orleans-Saran line still dominates the fields of the campaign. That would be too expensive to demolish it, especially since it nobody.

source: Wikipedia