Extension 650 m from La Madeleine to St Lazare commenced construction by jv of Chantiers Modernes, Bouygues, Quillery and Perforex. Further 700 m under consideration between Tolbiac-Massena and Tolbiac-Nationale for 1999 and northern extension to Brochant is planned. December 1998.   $120 million shelved project for new workshops and 677 m southwards extension between Bibliotheque F Mitterand and Olympiade stations to be reactivated. Call for tenders imminent with a view to starting construction before end-2000. January 2000. Restricted tendering deadline 2nd May, 2000 for construction for RATP of rolling stock garage and maintenance tracks for 14th metro line at Olympiades station including 700 m of twin-track tunnel. Contact Dept ITA, unite IDI, bureau P 6028 fax +33 141 953310. April 2000. RATP, the Paris metro operator, explains that the "geological accident" which left a 15 m-deep crater in the night of 15th February in the playground of a school was unpredictable and is due to a very weak limestone layer. The last measurements taken the day before the collapse revealed no anomalies. Up to 3,000 cubic metres and 400 square metres have been swallowed in the collapse above the Bibliothèque Franí§ois Mitterrand-Olympiades section of Line 14 under construction by Bouygues. A 15 m-wide 145 m-long underground rolling stock garage and maintenance workshop is under construction in limestone at a depth of 10 m underneath the school. Tunnelling of the vault was under way but no support had been installed yet when the landslip happened.The City of Paris has lodged a complaint to the Administrative Court so that an independent expert be appointed to determine the exact origin of the collapse. The city also commissioned a geological investigation of the Paris subsoil to BRGM (Mining and Geology Research Centre). The Ministry of transport has also ordered a technical investigation to the Conseil Général des Ponts et Chaussées, an inspectorate body of the ministry. Fifteen families living in a neighbouring building have been evacuated and will stay in hotels for six weeks until reinforcement work, which began on 21st February, is finished. Visit www.ratp.fr, www.brgm.fr and www.equipement.gouv.fr 10/03.