»From one coast to another.

While I've been belly-aching about the new CalTrain rolling stock for some time, the West Coast is trumped by the East: The Long Island Rail Road's new cars are "a total failure":

Now, though, railroad officials are admitting that one minor miscalculation has snagged their dream of design perfection on the railroad cars of the future.

The flaw? An armrest measuring four-tenths of an inch too long.

Four-tenths of an inch might seem like a picayune matter in an 85-foot train car. Or, to a hand that would otherwise dangle from a longer-than-average forearm, it might seem like a godsend. But to the owners of countless pants, pockets and raincoats that have been torn on the armrests, four-tenths of an inch is a measure of frustration.