Line C was opened on 26 September 1979, following the construction of a new tunnel connecting the Gare d'Orsay railway terminus (now
Musée d'Orsay) with the '''', terminus of the Rive Gauche line to
Versailles, along the banks of the
Seine. Services operated between
Versailles Château Rive Gauche –
Invalides –
Quai-d'Orsay, branching to
Massy–Palaiseau, and
Juvisy –
Dourdan /
Saint-Martin-d'Étampes. At that point the line was named the
Transversal Rive Gauche. In May 1980, service was extended to
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines –
Versailles Chantiers –
Gare des Invalides. The RER C designation was then introduced, replacing the
Transversal Rive Gauche name from this point onwards. On 25 September 1988, the VMI ("Vallée de Montmorency – Invalides") branch to the north-west opened. This branch mostly used the infrastructure of the "ligne d'Auteuil" (incorporated into the "
ligne de petite ceinture" from 1867, closed to passengers from 22 July 1934), and a new tunnel connection between Batignolles and
Saint-Ouen, connecting to the RER C's main trunk at
Champ de Mars–Tour Eiffel via a curved bridge (the only one in Paris) over the Seine river. That extended services to
Montigny–Beauchamp and
Argenteuil. The station
Porte de Clichy, located between
Pereire–Levallois and
Saint-Ouen, opened on 29 September 1991. In 1992, the line was extended from
Juvisy to
Versailles. A further extension from
Montigny–Beauchamp to
Pontoise was opened on 28 August 2000. On the same day a new station, Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, opened in order to create a new interchange with
Metro Line 14, located between Paris-Austerlitz and Boulevard Masséna, which was closed and replaced by the new station. Another new station,
Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône-Liesse, opened on 24 March 2002. On 27 August 2006, the C3 service (between
Ermont–Eaubonne and
Argenteuil) was transferred to the
Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare suburban rail network as
Line J. On 16 December 2006, Boulevard Victor was renamed
Boulevard Victor–Pont du Garigliano to highlight the new interchange with tramway line
T3 (T3a since 15 December 2012). In February 2012, the Versailles Rive Gauche station was renamed Versailles Château Rive Gauche, to highlight its proximity to the
Palace of Versailles, and to avoid confusion with other stations in Versailles served by RER C. In December 2023, the C8 branch was withdrawn. The new
Transilien Line V began a shuttle service between Versailles-Chantiers and Massy-Palaiseau. The line between Savigny-sur-Orge and Massy-Palaiseau became
tram-train line T12 Express. ==Services==