French rail operator orders trains too big to use

[FlyingJesus]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/french-railway-operator-sncf-orders-trains-too-big

One in six of the regional stations these superb new trains are suppose to service won't be able to house them (the first time at least...) because the distance between track and platform wasn't calculated properly. 2,000 of these new trains have been ordered and because they're bloody expensive it's going to cheaper for them to slice bits off the platform than change the order - but it's gonna cost them a projected 50,000,000 Euros to fix the 1,300 platforms that somehow got overlooked.

Apparently in some places they're too wide for two to go past each other, amazing :P

[Futz]

i wonder who overlooked this

and how they feel rn

[lemons]

hahaha yes saw this on bbc or daily mail yesterday HILARIOUS

[The Don]

i wonder who overlooked this

and how they feel rn

I imagine they're currently handing out their CV.

Such a ridiculous error to make haha, you would expect there to be multiple checks made by different people before the order was placed so I can't fathom how this managed to happen.

[xxMATTGxx]

What a nightmare that is going to cause for them. Since they are going to have to change all the stations that these trains will travel to/from to make sure that they can use them. You would have thought they would have checked?

[FlyingJesus]

Supposedly the dimensions given to the train network by the rail network (two different things apparently) were only for the stations that had been built in the last 30 years :P what kind of absolute moron would think that France has so recently invented rail travel that that's a good enough amount of time to go back sorry that is awful syntax but you get the point someone's had a few too many frog's legs

[Mr-Trainor]

I laughed when I first saw this. Shame that the order can't be changed but I guess the cost of altering the platforms will be a good thing in the end since they can benefit from having these bigger trains (more capacity), whether it's marginal or not.

[GommeInc]

Actually this "problem" isn't that bad. Some clever person on reddit calculated that France has over 9,000 platforms of which most can accept the new trains. About 1,300 platforms are not wide enough. The French state-owned train operator calculates it will cost about 80 million euros to shave off the odd few inches on each platform. The cost of the trains is about 3 billion euros, so the cost of righting the platforms is only about 2.5% of the total cost of the trains.

So in short, it's really not that big a deal as the changes are only a fraction of the cost and are more than affordable. For some reason the news broke out and it was apparently funny, when actually the cost to make all platforms adequate for use is nothing, really.

Also, the time in which the trains will be delivered is longer than it will take to alter the platforms. So by the time the trains are delivered the platforms will be fine to use.

EDIT: I think something similar happened with a new Airbus or Boeing a few years ago, and the cost to alter the runways was menial in comparison to the cost of the planes and the increased revenue the airport would receive from accepting the type of plane would cover the alterations in less than a year.

[xxMATTGxx]

Actually this "problem" isn't that bad. Some clever person on reddit calculated that France has over 9,000 platforms of which most can accept the new trains. About 1,300 platforms are not wide enough. The French state-owned train operator calculates it will cost about 80 million euros to shave off the odd few inches on each platform. The cost of the trains is about 3 billion euros, so the cost of righting the platforms is only about 2.5% of the total cost of the trains.

So in short, it's really not that big a deal as the changes are only a fraction of the cost and are more than affordable. For some reason the news broke out and it was apparently funny, when actually the cost to make all platforms adequate for use is nothing, really.

Also, the time in which the trains will be delivered is longer than it will take to alter the platforms. So by the time the trains are delivered the platforms will be fine to use.

EDIT: I think something similar happened with a new Airbus or Boeing a few years ago, and the cost to alter the runways was menial in comparison to the cost of the planes and the increased revenue the airport would receive from accepting the type of plane would cover the alterations in less than a year.

Would have been the Airbus A380 - As the taxiways and parking gates were not designed for an aircraft of that size. Many big international airports would the world put the changes in place so they could take it.

[GommeInc]

Would have been the Airbus A380 - As the taxiways and parking gates were not designed for an aircraft of that size. Many big international airports would the world put the changes in place so they could take it.
I thought if anyone knew it would be you :P All I remember was a plane that wasn't right, airports fixed it and the cost wasn't a problem as they made back the money from the increase in passengers or they just used reserved funds.

[xxMATTGxx]

I thought if anyone knew it would be you :P All I remember was a plane that wasn't right, airports fixed it and the cost wasn't a problem as they made back the money from the increase in passengers or they just used reserved funds.

Of course It would be me ;)

Although it's a bit different to this as no mistakes were technically made. It's just airports weren't designed to take such an aircraft as there was no need to as the biggest passenger plane at the time was a Boeing 747 before the A380 came into the service as such. Airports will do it again when the next new aircraft come into service and they need different adjustments - They have to keep in the game.

[FlyingJesus]

Excellent, every time I get any sizing wrong I'm going to claim that it's in the name of progress and quote Airbus :P

"no sir it this jacket fits you perfectly, you just need to become the right shape for it" I'll be a millionaire