France spends $20.5B on trains too wide to fit railways—report

railMANILA, Philippines – France has admitted it spent $20.5 billion buying new sets of trains that were too wide to fit most of the railway stations they were supposed to pass through, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal quoted French magazine Le Canard Enchainé as saying that the accidental spending was discovered too late and that the country needed to spend another $68.5 million to alter 1,300 of France’s 8, 700 railway platforms to accommodate the new trains.

It quoted a political leader as saying the error was “an inexcusable waste of public money.”

RELATED STORIES

France suffers more travel chaos as rail workers strike

France gripped by travel chaos as rail, air strikes bite

Read more...