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Socialist-Motion Trainwreck: France Mistakenly Orders 2,000 Trains Which Are Too Wide For Its Platforms
How does the New Normal saying go: "socialist-motion trainwreck"?
In a time before the New Normal "fairness doctrine" where socialized companies such as GM have 60% more recalls in 5 months than they had sales in the prior year, a story such as the following would belong at best to a surreal "Polak" joke. Unfortunately, in this centrally-planned day and age, it is all too real. Reuters reports that in order to boost GDP and to cement that even under hard-core socialism France is still a manufacturing powerhouse, the French national rail company SNCF had ordered some 2000 trains for an expanded regional network from the national rail operator RFF. There was just one problem: the trains were too wide.
And since the local station platforms can not fit the misshaped trains, France now has to spend countless millions and add to its already disturbing budget deficit in order to repair and construct wider stations. The good news, of course, is that France gets to double count the benefit of the GDP "boost" - first for the screwed up train order, all thanks to some bureaucrat who didn't feel like double checking his numbers, and second to reconstruct all of its incompatible train stations. Surely this is the purest definition of economic "growth."
From Reuters:
A spokesman for the RFF national rail operator confirmed the error, first reported by satirical weekly Canard Enchaine in its Wednesday edition.
"We discovered the problem a bit late, we recognise that and we accept responsibility on that score," Christophe Piednoel told France Info radio.
Construction work has already begun to reconfigure station platforms to give the new trains room to pass through, but hundreds more remain to be fixed, he added.
How could such an idiotic mistake take place: does nobody double check anything under a socialist utopia? Apparently not:
The mix-up arose when the RFF transmitted faulty dimensions for its train platforms to the SNCF, which was in charge of ordering trains as part of a broad modernisation effort, the Canard Enchaine reported.
The RFF only gave the dimensions of platforms built less than 30 years ago, but most of France's 1,200 platforms were built more than 50 years ago. Repair work has already cost 80 million euros ($110 million).
Still, it wouldn't be a story about socialist success if it wasn't someone else's fault: apparently in this case the responsibility lay in the "absurd rail system" changes made by the previous government.
Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier blamed an "absurd rail system" for the problem, referring to changes made by a previous government in 1997. "When you separate the rail operator (RFF) from the user, SNCF, it doesn't work," he told BFMTV.
There is really nothing more to add except perhaps for this:
Q: How do you get a one-armed Polak Frenchman out of a tree?
A: Wave to him.
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Now they'll need to widen the platforms.
Keynesianism 101.
I need a new keyboard. Holy shit that's funny.
C'est la vie.
How many gears are there in a French Tank?
Only 2, neutral and reverse.
French Army rifles for sale!
Never fired! Dropped only once!
I think I'm coming down with a case of Schadenfreude...
Economy is in Japanese Liquidity Trap
Economy is in European Planning Stage 1
What could go wrong?
PS Don't forget that the Opie&Cie administration is fawning the fuck all over a French Socialist Economics Book that makes Krugman look like a Libertarian
California will buy them.
Why would anyone double check things when there is no accountability in Socialism. No mention of anyone getting fired. Just "well, I guess we have to fix this now."
This is no different than fining a TBTF bank for criminal behavior- they just pay the fine and move on. INDIVIDUALS need to be fired/prosecuted or nothing changes. (A fantasy in .gov world, I know, where an EPA employee was recently given his bonus even after he got caught watching 6 hours a day of porn- just like in the SEC a couple years ago).
As soon as you disconnect fucking up with swift punishment, the sociopaths take over and everyone is fucked. Just like in the US.
Exactly. Who got fired for the mistake. It's as bad as American banks and car manufacturers.
sounds like a shovel ready problem.
More like a problem for a nice diamond wet saw. Just cut 12 inches off those platforms.
Oh God! Not the Broken Train Station Fallacy.
Delete. Joke already posted below.
EPA Worker watching porn == goodnews for Corporations
The downside is on a long enough timeline, we are all dead...
I worked in France many years ago as an engineer and found they are extemely theoretical in their mind set so as to avoid any one of them actually having to do something real and to then cast blame on a co-worker when it fails.
Asians are much the same in that they don't question authority.
The Russians however expect to blow up two or three tries along the way and consider it just working out the kinks.
What about the Germans? Mach schnell? Ya gut
Why are there so many trees on the Champs-Élysées ?
..because Germans like marching in the shade.
@Manthong
Those emitting these kind of silly jokes should look themselves in a mirror and ask for the reason of such an unjustified stale hate
It's not necessarily a Socialist phenomenon.
Have any of you looked at France these days? This country is already half Asian/African and White genocide is committed at full speed.
And since society and culture follows biology the third world population turns France/Europe into a 2nd and then a 3rd world country/continent. South Africa is the undeniable proove.
Well, socialist governments (and by extension of being elected, the people) are allowing their "european culture" to be extinguished aren't they?
On the reverse side, that same "european culture" intruded itself into their world in the past, for king & country, wonder how they felt then? Course I'm biased, I've always looked at royal families as the first welfare families ;-)
european cultures. plural
yes, you are biased. yet you know it, so it's ok. ;-)
what you are missing is the historic & cultural experience of living on the biggest landmass of the planet, with hordes of invaders right behind the horizon, sometimes factual, sometimes imaginary, yet always there
what we are missing is the historic & cultural experience of living in a New World full of exiting new opportunities, and lots of space just asking to be settled
;-)
Well, if you're including Asia in your land mass equation (and you are) there is plenty of land asking to be settled.
You are lonely and ignorant. Assumptions and generalizations are fun for everyone. It's spelled "proof" also. Goodness, retarded people are silly.
You, sir, are the lonely, ignorant, retarded person.
If culture doesn't matter, please explain why the African continent, with its abundant natural resources is a shithole of war, corruption and poverty.
I'm all ears...
I'm fairly certain I didn't say culture doesn't matter. I'm fairly certain I was referring to the line: "And since society and culture follows biology"
This is clearly unsubstantiated racism. Though, I suppose I didn't make that abundantly clear, perhaps purposely leaving my comment open to your predictable argument.
It's interesting that you should choose the continent of Africa when you could just as easily choose many rural towns in the United States (or any other country) - though you would have to replace the word 'war' with 'criminal activity'. And don't worry, whatever your culture is, there are people in the world that think it is revolting.
Funny how we now use genetics to explain just about everything from disease propensities to intelligence, but once you go so far as to suggest that race (which is most definitely defined by genetics) could actually play into people's behaviors and culture, you are a hater and racist. Funny, ain't it? In the animal world we see people willing to pay millions for the semen of a winning race horse, or prize winning cattle, yet we dare not use genetics to project the behavior of any person, especially if they are of African descent. Political correctness demands we wear blinders, not for the sake of truth but the preservation of individual self esteem. And it doesn't hurt that these protected classes of people represent a significant voting base.
Good argument.
Rebuttal: Ben Carson vs Hillary Clinton. Perhaps they are exceptions but there are a lot of exceptions. Blacks only make up about 10% of the population of the US but we still elected Obama. The same could be said about Europe in the past. They were predominantly white and they voted for what they have now.
Well yes, there are always exceptions, but if 75% of a given group predictably act in a specific way, would we not be foolish to ignore it or otherwise act if it were not fact? We are constantly excusing large swaths of people acting in specific ways because of the "exceptions" and it just seems stupid if not suicidal, all for the sake of political correctness. There is a huge fear of being labeled as a racist or bigot for pointing out the obvious. Because not all Nazi's were evil people, I suppose we should have surrendered our arms in fear of harming one of the "exceptions". We are so absolutely fearful of offending anyone that we have unilaterally disarmed ourselves. In our desperation to avoid any accountability for anything we are relegating responsibilities to machines and rules that act without direction, removing any personal responsibility. We can send soldiers into combat under threat of criminality if they happen to misjudge a threat, yet send drones in to kill without any conscience whatsoever. We treat our laws the same, where the law is the law and no judge or jury has the power to decide what actually makes sense. No one wants that responsibility. We have descended into madness out of a fear of responsibility. At some point we will all be held to account. Wake up.
The other day, my wife had to explain to a female patient that "no, removing the clitoral hood does NOT increase sexual sensitivity," despite what her 'african' husband said. Sometimes 'culture' is just downright incorrect!
Maybe you should do some reading and learning:
http://www.humanbiologicaldiversity.com/
Eventually (it might take 50 years), the many many people who think like you in the Western world are going to have to come around and drop the racial equality ideology, because there is not a SINGLE SHRED of evidence that it is based in reality.
who gives a puck
stop worrying about how 'they' are fracking-up <insert your nation here> and do what your forebearers did... move.
Trains too wide? No problem, it's just necessary to widen the railroad now. In fact, an ingenious way how to get rid of the French unemployment. And the government had best acquire a subsidy from the euro funds, which can be obtained for free.
You get us in trouble?
Je t'afficherai mes vitesses si vous m'afficherez le vôtre.
I ordered a Russian bride but her ass was too wide for my furniture. ...what should I do?
stop posting stupid crap?
"In other news: internet traffic dropped by 89% in response to one zealous blogging website's commenter posting the suggestion that people 'stop posting stupid crap'...Comcast repsponded by doubling internet fees, citing increasing costs due to the inability to compress the same tripe repeated in various locations."
More like 99%.
Get wider furniture.
That was the joke.
lots of that in McUSA
wide is good
pump it frequently enough and it might just slim down...
Muchas gracias mi amigo!
There is one forward gear as well in case some one attacks from the rear.
We originally built the C17 to carry the M1 Abrahms, the modified it so it was too wide to fit on the C17
"too wide to fit on the C17"
No way, cite proof or be gone from here you crazy person
</sarc>
If you have ever been to Verdun, you would not doubt the courage of the french soldier in WW1.
Just what the hell was the frog supposed to do? Anything that moved was killed. The only hope of survival was to dig a hole in the ground and hope someone can dig you out when you get buried by earth heaved up by artillery. Nobody was brave - they just had no other choices.
World War I cost France 1,697,800 dead, 4,266,000 wounded (of whom 1.5 million were permanently maimed) and 537,000 made prisoner or missing
— exactly 73% of the 8,410,000 men mobilized
Some context: France had 40 million citizens at the start of the war; 60% of men between the ages of 18 and 28 died or were permanently maimed
We still lost ~500 000 people during world war II. It may be more than a lot of the surrounding countries... (even looking at %).
My gran father ended up in Germany for close to 5 years, working camp then farm working, out of his bataillon they were only two survivors...
We lost, and badly at it not that we were the only ones, they are historians that track plots within the high society of people that wanted it that way actually, betrayal or not anyway doesn't change the score.
Yet what tribute do all the counrties surrounding France paid to the war? I'm curious, Belgium, Netherland, Denmark, etc, all those countries that were indexed by Germany too?
I know the score, it is easier to point finger at France than to scrutinize how heroic its neighbours have been, and how heavy a tribute they paid to the war.
American got to look closer to History instead of believing in narratives that sounds more like tales or moral stories from La Fontainre than anything else... actually that is being unfair to Sir La Fontaine...
Seen the new French Army Knife?
Six different corkscrews and a white flag.
These Jay Leno's style jokes are a bit tired !
You forgot to call them "Cheeseeating surrender monkeys" btw.
In fact this ugly disdain and pitiful jokes come from the firm refusal of the French to join America in Irak, in 2003.
Since France refused to go to Iraq, American warmongers and neo-cons made French army look like cowards – as a punishment.
But History has proved the French were right.
And now that we are the first follower of America's adventourous international ways (since Sarkozy), we have a nice place in lots of Hollywood movies...
As for this story it is much a do about nothing. it was planned that way, the story was purposefully mispresented for political motives (or their overlords will...).
How many gears are there in a French Tank?
Six: five reverse and one forward for military parades.
@Latina Lover
Racist joke ...
It's "Polack", rayciss.
A Polish employee brought in a news article from Wisconsin today.
"Fucking Communists", he said.
Also, is Alstom involved?
After reading about Dr. Korczak. I stopped making polish jokes. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Korczak
I am constantly learning from ZH commentors.
Thanks.
Jerry Sanduskey shows Dr. Korczak in his family tree.
How about the The Auschwitz Volunteer, Witold Pilecki?
The guy voluntarily went to Auschwitz, organized a resistance movement there, escaped, wrote the first report on Holocaust that got delivered to Churchill (who didn't want to listen), finally got executed by the Stalinist secret police in 1948.
Broken window for the win!
I am imagining how the ones responsible for the technical part of the purchase must have felt when this was discovered? I feel sorry for them, how a simple mistake can have huge impacts..
Measure twice, cut once. Has a much bigger meaning when it isn't a 2x4.
Heck, on important jobs around the house I measure several times, put the tape measure/micrometer down, let it rest over night, and do it again the next day just to make sure. Write those figures down and make sure you are getting the same answer from repeated measurements.
If I replace an engine mount or chassis nut with the wrong size and strip a thread (whilst rebuilding a motorcycle), I have a huge problem.
Electricity doubly so. Pull that plug, put it where you can see it, and treble check and *still* have it on a GFCI. States has 120v - dangerous but not always fatal. Other countries it's 220v. You mess up, you fry.
It's amps that kill you, not volts.
You have that backwards. Cut twice then measure once. It's even more efficient than broken windows.
And they would care why? Do you think that would be grounds to be fired in France?
Turns out there was a small group of people on the technical team,
all of them interns.
Quelle fromage!
Government Unions 101 also.
In the early 90s in St. Louis, they promised that the MetroLink would take convention goers over to Illinois to play golf. FWIW, there still aren't any golf courses in East St. Louis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbNXpjmdZwA
Fucking France. Just call it Schmucklandia.
lol...like the man said, they'll widen the platforms, then get to work ripping up tracks. When they're all done in fifty years, it'll be time for new trains!
Fucking Forward!!!...ROTFL!!!
If the just let themselves be invaded by the Germans the entire problem would be fixed in an afternoon.
Yes...but the actual costs could be horrifying ;-)
(Sorry, couldn't help myself)
And the SNCF didn't know that there were older platforms all across the country that were not wide enough?
I call bullshit, they're just breaking windows.
You read my mind. Somewhere Krugman is weeping with happiness.
Doesn't really matter whether it was planned, or unplanned. It's still a significant piece of evidence about the inefficiency of government.
Sounds like something the pentagon would do.
Perhaps the Pentagon advised them, calling it the European Pivot, LOL.
"These toilet seats aren't expensive enough."
Ouroboros raises his ugly head again (tail?).
France was done a long long time ago. The wars between banks in the 1800's, disguised as Homeland security, put France in a hole it will never recover from. That is what happens when you are indebted by the the black sheep of the oligarchy banking family
For long as a retard teenageer I used to reject anything related to the "Ancient régime" and the Kings of France.
Now I've to aknowledge that the fall of the King of FRance was the fall of France altogether...
Not too mention the burning of the the civil registers held by the church is something extremely suspsicious and weird to do.
Honoré de Balzac was so right...
The mistaken one(s) likely will be promoted.
Also measured with a ruler so you know it's accurate. Creating more (wasteful) work, the broken window dream.
Double Plus Good!
Keynesian wet dream - Krugman's probably already on the phone to the Central Planning Committee in Washington.
Do you think Krugman is going to proposes as transit to the space aliens in lieu of an invasion?
Bravo, Al! Perfectly put.
However, the New York City Transit Authority was first with this idea. I remember that some years ago (15 - 20) the TA ordered cars for the D line that were not the right elevation to match the height of the platforms in Brooklyn. I've tried to find a reference to the story using a web search, and I regret that I haven't found it.
Don't worry France, our Socialist-In-Chief blames previous administrations too.
I can't help but think there is some Einstein thought experiment in here somewhere.
Someone Sacre bleu it!
More gubbermint than socialist...typical 'eff-up
Oh, like you have never ordered the wrong size? There must be standardized rail sizes. Take a haircut and sell them to other countires - why not? Or you could redesign and reconfigure everything to match the fuck-up.
When I meet Socialists in America every fiber of my being has to be restrained from just stabbing them to death on the spot with whatever I can find...
must be hard for you. they're everywhere. the most dangerous are the corporate socialists
Every railroad has a published cross-sectional drawing, showing the maximum allowable profile of rolling stock at any level, from the wheels up to the roof.
This is not only to clear platforms, but to make sure that rolling stock doesn't scrape the sides of tunnels, or foul the support structures for the catenary.
Never heard of a railroad that didn't have a unified, up-to-date, system-wide standard. This is basic stuff.
If RFF is this clueless about their rolling stock envelope, how are they doing with their signaling and other safety systems? Better take the bus, or a canal boat instead.
Isn't France a big nuke producer too? Scary shit.......
How do you produce 2000 of these engines before you find out? How do you not produce and test a prototype first just to make sure it meets specifications? How do you not get to keep your doctor?
Burahcraseee ezz perfect! All zee appropriate forms were filed, in perfect orderhair, in treeeplicut! Zair ezz nosing wrong here!
(Fumbling with the microphone as an aide whispers something in his ear)
Eeez American manyoufacterher, eezz Koch brudders trains, zeh did zis! ;-)
It is obvious. Someone did not want to find out until after the job was done.
"we accept responsibility"
Q: Then why do you still have a job?
a) France
b) Socialism
c) Broken Windows
d) All of the above
in the US NOBODY takes responsibility for things like this....they get a bonus for not having fucked it up worse
Did we mention the new trains were battery operated and we need to charge them every 100 miles. Time to install charging stations. OH and Wind Turbines to charge the batteries at the charging station...
Hey, it could be worse, they could have a prop fall off their warship.
Oh, wait......
And.... the old shop motto..."if it's not done twice, it's not done right".
"measure twice, cut ONCE"
A: Give him a saw.
B. Wave to him.
Now that would never happen in the private sector. (don't bring up Gubmit Motors, they are not private sector anymore and I guess it shows in 3 or 4 million units recalled.......)
You order shit you eat shit.
How do I get my entire 401(k) into SNCF stock? BULLISH!
That would be an expanded MyRA
If you believe the people that ordered the trains didn't plan on "remodeling" every station in France when they ordered the trains.....I have an annuity to sell you.
"AAA rated and insured"
Find out who signed off on this and see how many friends he has in the railway construction business.
Could be interesting.
ah Merde........
Monorail.....Monorail.....Monorail.
Too late, the mob has spoke!!!
This makes Obamacare look like a smashing success!
No pun intended...
...as Krugman nods his approval.
Invent a crisis, say global warming, and then invent a tax that goes along with it.
Use the tax to paper over fuckups like this (and pay your friends in the process).
Done.
Wait, has this been done already?
Qui est Jean Galt?
Les projets prêts à démarrer?
Obama and Jerry Brown are both brown with envy:
Obama et Jerry Brown sont de couleur brune avec envie.
I think that could be the big project for Hillary's first term: widen every freeway lane in the country by three inches, like we just did in Los Angeles for "Carmageddon". Or in Chris Christie's first term, LOL:
Dans le premier mandat de Chris Christie, nous avons fait les routes assez large, même pour une Kardashian.
[Traductions belles aux Français par Google.]
I worked for the DOE in Germantown, MD and went to the office of a guy who was suppose to help me put together a strategy to improve Federal Gov't/State communications about cleanup of WW II nuclear waste. When I walked into his office, the blinds were drawn and the office quite dark. He was working on his stock portfolio. ALL of us in that Division that year received performance award bonuses.
Dust off all those old Italian and Polish jokes. Insert French.
"We discovered the problem a bit late, we recognise that and we accept responsibility on that score," Christophe Piednoel.
I don't suppose "accepting responsibility" actually entailed resigning in disgrace, let alone going out and hanging themselves.
Yep
Talk is cheap
Never see any of these born again pols actually suffer any consequences of their transgressions. Worst case, they do the speech or talk show circuit. Look at Ben go.
Fire ze missiles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCpjgl2baLs
Knowing the French, this wasn't a mistake, but a collusion by unions.
This EXACT same thing happened here in Toronto, Ontario Canada.
The Toronto Transit Commission renovated all of the streetcar track bed across the city starting in 2004.
About 4 years ago Toronto Council ordered up brand new streetcars to replace the piece of shit streetcars that have been crawling across the city the past 40 years.
The TTC took delivery of one of the new streetcars two summers ago and took it for a test run on one of the major North-South lines on Spadina Street. During the run they found that at certain intersections where the streetcar was to come up to a turn, the passenger loading islands were too close to the track and the streetcar was rubbing up against the island causing damage which could lead to derailment. Seems the idiot engineers didn't take proper measurements for how wide the streetcars should be built.
So, last summer the City of Toronto works had to go to all these problem area, bust up all that freshly poured concrete and trackbeds, and reset everything to the correct measurement specifications.
I can't remember what the cost was to fix each intersection, but it was very high as intersections are typically a spaghetti mish-mash of tracks for all four turns.
Totally understandable. Its not like those Europeans set the standard for setting standards for everything or anything. Or they are finally ditching the ISO9000 and its more of a ISOWhetever the fuck standard now.
Oh my god! Even sillier than the Third Worlder's mistake. So elementary.
Sounds like the correct decision to me. Wider trains are better trains generally speaking. If the only mods needed are a few station platforms, it is well worth the cost to modernize the obsolete stations. In the long run this can pay off.
It's not "broken window fallacy" to upgrade to more modern standards. The alternative would be to continue building to match the most obsolete stations in the network, which is foolish economy. The wider trains force the issue.
OK, so here is a comment that I found in French and ran through Google Translate:
"Following the example of many other newspapers , the world gets information from the Chained Duck telling a " crazy story trains ' new TER trains (two thousand were ordered for parts [regions]) will be larger than the previous [by] 20 centimeters, which will force Réseau Ferré de France planing hundreds of station platforms too narrow.
The press is decidedly desperate to sell his paper : as understood much of commentators Le Monde , the choice of the train was taken knowingly , to give more space for travelers [passengers?]. I can attest to having worked for Bombardier , one of the two manufacturers of train concerned , before he received the order, that is to say there are more than 5 years , having had information that it should touch [contact with] the oldest stations.
The figures cited by the World itself to show that the choice is not economically absurd : the work to be done to account for 80 million euros , which certainly seems important but is dwarfed by the 15 billion represented the purchase of 2,000 reams of contract. The real scandal if there is one , is that development work had dragged beyond reasonable, but even this remains questionable.
... But the posture of the newspaper has always been clear , and it is not surprising that he wants to ride this story out of proportion by a humorous presentation."
If I am reading this right, they knew some stations would have to be adjusted but the extra cost is only 1/2 of 1% of the total cost of the equipment. The trains were intentionally made 20 cm wider to make more space for passengers. The original story was meant to be humorous.
I don't see the problem. The oversize can't be much; a few mm at most. So just run the damned trains, they'll wear in to a perfect fit soon enough. The wear-in period can be minimized by having the trains approach the station at higher speeds.
It will also save money on the train brake pads. Plus any irregularities in the platform edges will be smoothed out.
Possibly there might be some unintended side effects with particularly bad train to station mismatches. But isn't that what Survival of the Fittest is about?
being its france that deal was signed after all present each consumed 12 bottles of wine. which also adds to the gdp. what we have here is a win win win situation. and who can argue with that.
Mistake, LOL.
I wonder which company will undertake the costly and urgent constructions. This means that the project would be directly awarded without the proper auction for the best offer. This is how corruption works.
In the middle of WW2 the first of a new generation of aircraft carriers arrived at the Panama Canal. Its hull had no problem getting thru--they'd measured that--but they hadn't taken into account that the overhang of its deck was now too wide to fit between the lampposts on either side. Solution? Turn up the power and knock them down, which was done. There was a war on.
Another funny (+sad) ZH nugget. Thanks Tylers.
A paralell to Obamacare?
Socialism at its best.
FUCKING USELESS
so what has socialism got to do with it?
dummies are dummies no matter of what political flavor.
Mistakes like this don't happen.
Sounds like someone is laundering dirty money.
So every time the train pulls in, the windows break, and growth carries on
These people are the same everywhere:
(1) We accept responsibility - but not the blame; because
(2) It was the prior administration (i.e., BUSH!!!)
Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier blamed an "absurd rail system" for the problem, referring to changes made by a previous government in 1997. "When you separate the rail operator (RFF) from the user, SNCF, it doesn't work," he told BFMTV.
This is actually nonsense, or let us say, it can only be true for state-owned companies. The private sector has no such coordination problems.