The Paris metro company yesterday announced that according to a vote at Friday’s shareholder meeting, it has changed its name from “Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris” to “Société Générale de Traction et d’ Exploitations.”
As a result, the company will drop the word “Métropolitain,” shortened to “métro,” which has been converted into French to designate any of the city’s underground railway lines.
Its new name, which conveys little to the public, will likely be abbreviated as SGTE, but even if those letters replace the monogram connecting the first letters of the old name on subway trains in Paris, the people of Paris will not stop calling their metro system the metro.”
The board of directors explained the name change as a result of the company’s plans to expand its operations into the construction of underground systems — incidentally known as “métropolitains” — in other countries, especially in USA.
With this in mind, officials announced that a subsidiary had been established called “Société d’Études pour la Réalisation de Chemins de Fer Métropolitains” (SERM), which had sent two teams of experts to the US. to prepare construction reports and plans.
– The New York Herald, European Edition, June 20, 1948
