French red faces over trains that are 'too wide'
 

Oops ! Back to the drawing board ! Gaston, where did we put that old guillotine ?

I sat reading this around 7am in a Railway Gazette and then it was on the news

Just HOW? do Railway planners and executives get it so wrong that they have to change the INFRASTRUCTURE to accommodate the trains

WHY? did someone not point out the error before they were built

OH Forgot the French are the best at everything they NEVER make a mistake

OR

are the best at making mistakes too

You'd think they'd thoroughly test the first one off the production line, and then modify the design before making any more.

I wonder if these trains will be to narrow for the swedish railway. We have very wide trains here...

Anyway... I really wonder how this could happen... but it has happen before, not too wide but not able to take curves etc etc.
Oh, and the type A32 tram in Stockholm (built 1997) were so low that the safety plank above the third rail had to be replaced with a rubber protection so the trams could go from the depot (tram- and metro) to route 12...

It just shows what happens when you divide a railway up.

We had exactly the same debacle here in the UK when Railtrack replaced BR.

It's called asset management, which is a posh way of saying that you know about the resources you have .....and clearly they don't.

How hard would it have been to run a gauging train over the routes that the new stock was to use ?

Here on the Thameslink route they strapped polystyrene sheets to the side of a unit which was potential replacement stock and worked it through the London tunnels. I'm told the sheets were pretty battered and gouged at the end, and so the 319s stayed with us.

It's really not rocket science, but this sort of pragmatism seems to beyond the capability of most modern executives.

2007 or 2008 Bridge replacement near Pontefract racecourse.
The day before the new bridge was due to go in somebody finally compared the actual length of the new bridge with the proposed gap, before they broke the track.
Result - New bridge 200mm short.
Result - 1 year delay to re apply for the possession and cut in a spacer section.

too wide
 

Was there not a similar problem over here many years ago that restricted the GWR Kings to certain routes?
John.

good old french strike again

I thought that was a weight problem ?

Looks like their locos are about as well designed as their cars.

Hmmm.:(

I was wondering how to reply to that post. So, what is a British car these days ? I can remember some long time ago it was only Reliant or Morgan that could truly be called British.:D

Reliant are no more, so it must just be Morgans.:)

I don't like British cars either pre65, give me German engineering any day.

Germany certainly does make finely engineered cars, but what makes a car "nice" can be more than mere engineering.

I like my Volvo.:D

were did the 15 billion euros come from ?

It's not loco's the trains are Multiple units similar to TGV

Philip,
I seem to recall it was the cylinders were fouling the platforms that restricted the route availability.
John.

Sounds just like good old Britain,who remembers the Derby built underground stock that was built too wide for the tunnels under London ?
It's not only our friends across the channel that get it wrong !

I don't recall hearing that story. When was this? What were the details?

There have been gauging problems since before Stephenson. We had a problem only a few weeks ago at Carlisle with preserved steam locos scheduled for excursions.

Hi

As I recall, the coaches were built with the bogies too close to the centre which meant that the ends touched the tunnel walls when going round corners. Solution was to move the bogies a little further apart.

Regards

Patrick

Hi

According to an article here, the whole thing was blown out of proportion by the media and many of the stations concerned needed renewing anyway.

Regards

Patrick