RailRoadFan.com

If you live south of the Black River in Port Huron, you probably do not want to look at the map the environmental organization Stand.earth keeps on its website. Likewise, it might give you chills if you live in Goodells, Emmett or Capac.

The map shows the potential extent of the damage if a train hauling tank cars full of petroleum products derails, catches fire or explodes. The CN tracks are one.............

https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/op ... /38010545/

Typical drivel from the Times Herald. The only reason they published it is because it fits their political agenda. If they were half as competent as they believe themselves to be, they'd have done some real research into the issue and published it somewhere other than the last page in what passes for a front section of the paper. But true to form, they've taken the easy way out of having to do any actual research or legwork on what could have been a decent article about how much more reliable/safe electronic brakes are for the communities along the Flint Sub.

I remember when the TH was actually worth reading on a daily basis. Now it's just a bunch of press releases posted by the local police departments and other crap they've scraped from various sources that they charge $50 a month for the "privilege" of reading. The decline in newspaper popularity is no excuse for the journalistic laziness that the TH has exhibited for many years, and it's amazing to me that they're somehow still around.

New papers and the evening news used to provide a moderating effect to the new media. You had a once a day news cycle allowing time to fact check and they could call each other out for bad reporting. Now with the 24 hours news cycle and anyone with an opinion having an online venue, news reporting is turning to crap.

...and let's see the National Safety Council says 40,000+ people were killed last year in vehicle accidents. How many killed in train derailments?

PatAzo wrote:...and let's see the National Safety Council says 40,000+ people were killed last year in vehicle accidents. How many killed in train derailments?

FRA data for 2017 says that there where 888 rail-related deaths in the US in 2017. 575 of those where trespassers. The report stated that the vast majority of those trespassers where between the ages of 20-39.

Newspapers are really hurting right now.
My local paper in 2001 had close to 200 employees, now that number is down to 7 and the paper itself is printed 75 miles away.
These "buzz" stories, which often manipulate the truth and your thinking process, are published to keep the lights on.

Do not know if they are still doing it, but the Det.News/Free Press plant at 16 Mile and Mound was/is printing The Toledo Blade, and then it is trucked to Toledo.

At least they did label it as an opinion piece.

If they truly care, next week they will do an opinion piece of highway trucking.

But the AAR really needs to take a look at it.
That recent runaway in British Columbia where 3 died and the earlier one in Quebec where 47 died shows the shortcoming of the current air brake system.

Toledo Blade stopped in house printing back in 2014. Detroit Media Partnership won the bid then.

Trucking newspapers around is common now. Advance newspapers previously moved all Michigan printing to Walker. Now they are closing the Walker press and moving that work to Cleveland, Ohio.

The Walker plant is about 15 years old or something like that. Wow...

GTW6401 wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 25, 2020 12:13 pm

Advance newspapers previously moved all Michigan printing to Walker. Now they are closing the Walker press and moving all printing to Cleveland, Ohio.

Opened in 2004. They had been printing eight different Michigan newspapers.

PatAzo wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 15, 2018 10:10 am

New papers and the evening news used to provide a moderating effect to the new media. You had a once a day news cycle allowing time to fact check and they could call each other out for bad reporting. Now with the 24 hours news cycle and anyone with an opinion having an online venue, news reporting is turning to crap.

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:12 am

These "buzz" stories, which often manipulate the truth and your thinking process, are published to keep the lights on.

This is especially true locally with Fox 2. They have a notorious reputation for reporting and airing stories without waiting until investigations are complete, even when illegal activity is depicted, and will never publically admit their shortfalls or errors. So far Local 4 and WXYZ are more socially responsible than Fox 2 and seem to make a better effort to strive for accuracy in reporting.

The original post is a couple years old, but it's funny that you mention the stuff going by truck. It's been several years (back when the TH had a competent, local staff, capable of objective reporting- well before the editorial posted above), but I remember the Times Herald writing about the stuff coming over the bridge and how nasty some of it is. Hazardous cargos that can't go through the tunnel in Detroit have to come up here to cross the border. The Ambassador Bridge, because it's privately owned, won't allow certain cargos either, which also have to come up here. Once the new bridge (over the Detroit River) is built, because it's being built by the government, those hazardous cargos will be able to cross directly from Detroit to Windsor (and vice versa). It should slightly reduce the amount of hazardous stuff coming through the Port Huron area by highway...but it won't do much to prevent CN from stacking up hazmat loads in the tunnel again.

DaveO wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 25, 2020 12:08 pm

At least they did label it as an opinion piece.

If they truly care, next week they will do an opinion piece of highway trucking.

Given the amount of necroposting going on recently, I should have checked the date.
Hazardous loads can use the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry.

http://truckferry.com/