The French train operator SNCF 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. Construction work has already started to reconfigure station platforms.
The error seems to have happened because the national rail operator RFF gave the wrong dimensions to train company SNCF.
A spokesman for the RFF confirmed they had “discovered the problem a bit late”.
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.”