Champigny-sur-Marne lies in one of the loops of the river Marne, east of Paris, in the Val-de-Marne department. At the dawn of the twentieth century this village of winegrowers and farmers became a holiday destination favoured by Parisians, with its restaurants and riverside dance halls along the water. The tradition of Sundays by the river, simple cooking and dancing to the accordion made the banks of the Marne famous. The Île du Martin-Pêcheur, reached by a footbridge, and the national Resistance museum, opened in 2020 facing the Marne, keep that memory of the place alive.
The railway revolution of the late nineteenth century turned Champigny into a low-rise suburb. The districts of Le Plant and Cœuilly, once planted with fruit trees or given over to farming, were developed as estates of detached houses. That low-rise character still marks the landscape of the town, punctuated by landmarks such as the Tremblay county park, a former racecourse converted into 75 hectares of green space, the church of Saint-Saturnin in the centre and the memorial to the 1870 Battle of Champigny.
The arrival of the Grand Paris Express changes the picture. Two line 15 stations serve the town: Champigny Centre, an interchange between lines 15 South and 15 East, and Bry-Villiers-Champigny, connecting with the RER E and the suburban rail network. The opening of line 15 South, planned for 2027, brings Champigny closer to the rest of the metropolitan area and feeds steady demand, extending the service already provided by the RER A at neighbouring Joinville-le-Pont.
