Good morning, Stockton.
The nation’s railroad network runs through rural areas and big cities alike — including Stockton, where active rail lines cut right through downtown. But unlike the nation’s highway bridges, which are federally inspected, railroad bridge safety has little oversight or transparency.
A new investigation from the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism finds that rail companies inspect and maintain their own bridges, keeping most problems out of public view until disasters happen — bridge collapses, derailments, fires, chemical spills and river pollution.
The Howard Center, part of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, partners with Stocktonia through NEWSWELL, a nonprofit supporting local news. Their national work highlights issues that also hit home in Stockton.
Read the Howard Center’s special report on rail bridges here, and see more of Stocktonia’s accountability reporting here. If journalism that keeps your community safe matters to you, please consider supporting Stocktonia.
Today’s top story
U.S. railroads’ aging bridges are self-inspected. Their findings are kept secret
By Lex Doig, Jaehee Kim and Adrian Mancera Cota • Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
An investigation found railroad bridge safety across the U.S. is hamstrung by minimal government oversight and limited transparency.
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