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News and Review, Railroad Yakuza Style.
March 02, 2007
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA | CSX Corporation, operator of over 22,000 miles of track mostly in the Eastern US, has announced a deal to sell advertising space on its talking defect detectors. If the deal is carried through, railroad operating crews will be hearing advertisements for various products and services before the end of 2007.
"It's a very exciting opportunity for CSX to maximize its revenue," said CSX spokesman Gary Sease. A detector senses if a train passing over them has any mechanical problems, such as dragging equipment, or overheating bearings. After a train passes over them, a wayside electrical box equipped with a transmitter sends a message over the radio declaring the defect, or informing the crew of no errors. Added Sease, "now, after the familiar 'no defects', our employees might hear a short commercial for important products like Hooked on Phonics."
The first client may already be lined up. "We're very concerned about the in-roads into our base demographic by the internet," said Playboy founder Hugh Heffner. "We all know that railroaders are a core customer for the pornography industry, and we hope that by advertising directly to them, we can beat internet porn to the punch."
EXTERNAL LINKS
CSX Transportation
Hooked on Phonics
Playboy Enterprises
The Blotter is an online satirical publication produced by the Railroad Yakuza.