Gros

Not too closely watched, les trains;

The French train operator SNCF has discovered that 2,000 new trains it ordered at a cost of 15bn euros ($20.5bn; £12.1bn) are too wide for many regional platforms.

France is famous for its bureaucracy;

The error seems to have happened because the national rail operator RFF gave the wrong dimensions to train company SNCF.

Our [BBC] correspondent says that they measured platforms built less than 30 years ago, overlooking the fact that many of France's regional platforms were built more than 50 years ago when trains were a little slimmer.

....Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier blamed an "absurd rail system" for the problems.

"When you separate the rail operator from the train company," he said, "this is what happens." 

Funny that automobiles always seem to fit the streets.