The navigable River Seine runs 777 kilometres from Marcilly-sur-Seine down to the English Channel at Le Harve. In Paris it connects with the Parisian canals, St Denis, St Martin and l'Ourcq. A few kilometres south of Paris it is joined by the River Marne. A few kilometres before Moneterau it has a link with the Canal du Loing. At Montereau itself it is joined by the River Yonne. All the above connecting points are navigable by commercial and pleasure craft. Clearly there are many other tributaries along its length.
There are five named sections starting from the English Channel end which is Seine Maritime (tidal) from le Harve up to Rouen for 120 km. Then there is the Seine Aval which runs from Rouen to Paris for 233km. The section through Paris itself is Traversée de Paris and covers 12.75km. Then there is the Montereau to Paris section which is also known as Seine Amont which is 97 kilometres long followed by the Petite Seine at 68km which ends at Marcilly-sur-Seine where it then becomes unnavigable to commercial and motorised pleasure craft.
The eight locks on the Seine Amont have minimum dimensions of 180m x 11.4m. Apart from lock 1 (Varennes) they all have earlier, slightly smaller, locks next to them. Some of these secondary locks are still in use but usually only when there is very little traffic and smaller craft are using the river and is thus a way of conserving water.
All the locks are operated by an éclusier who has a control tower overlooking the lock. All communication is by VHF radio and boaters have to call to say when they are about a kilometre away from the lock. The VHF channel number varies by lock.
Lock cottages were built beside the original locks but most of these have since been demolished.
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| Original smaller lock |
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| Original smaller lock |
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