The Paris subway firm introduced yesterday that in accordance with a vote taken at a shareholders’ assembly Friday it has modified its title from “Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris” to “Société Générale de Traction et d’Exploitations.”
The firm will thus drop the phrase “Métropolitain,” which, shortened into “métro,” has handed into the French language to designate any metropolis underground railway.
Its new title, which conveys little to most people, will in all probability be abbreviated to SGTE, however even when these letters change the monogram linking the primary letters of the outdated title on the Paris subway trains Parisians aren’t more likely to cease calling their underground system the “métro.”
The board of administrators defined the change of title by plans to increase the corporate’s actions to the development of underground techniques — which, by the way, have been known as formally “métropolitains” — in different international locations, particularly within the United States.
With this finish in view, officers introduced a subsidiary firm has been fashioned underneath the title of “Société d’Études pour la Réalisation de Chemins de Fer Métropolitains” (SERM), which has already despatched two teams of consultants to America to arrange reviews and building plans.
— The New York Herald, European Edition, June 20, 1948
Source: www.nytimes.com